BREAKING: Mass Shooting in Florida

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'Multiple fatalities' reported after mass shooting at video game tournament in Florida

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. —

Police in Jacksonville, Florida, have responded to a reported mass shooting at a video game tournament involving multiple fatalities.

"Mass shooting at the Jacksonville Landing. Stay far away from the area. The area is not safe at this time. STAY AWAY," the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office said on Twitter.

Vic Micolucci with WJXT-TV says "multiple people" were shot at the event, according to his sources. WJXT reports at least four people are dead, but police have not revealed an official number of the dead or injured at this point.

The shooting occurred during the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar, according to the Twitter account of CompLexity Gaming, one of the event organizers. The tournament is being held at the Jacksonville Landing, a marketplace in the downtown section the city.

One Madden participant, Young Drini, was grazed in the hand and is away from the scene and safe, Complexity said.

I'm guessing white Christian alt-righters.

Update, 8:43 pm:
According to a grisly account from witnesses, Katz was “nerdy” and angry that he lost the competition before he started shooting. Witnesses implied that the death toll was higher than currently reported.

Baltimore Police spokesman T.J. Smith said in an email that “we are assisting our partner law enforcement agencies with some information that has led authorities to Baltimore.”
Federal authorities were at a home in the 1200 block of Harbor Island Walk near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor on Sunday night as part of an investigation into the Jacksonville mass shooting.

No motive is known. The Los Angeles Times reported that Katz had lost the tournament before he began his rampage.

People in the online gaming community said Katz had played under the game tag “RavensChamp” and “Bread.”

» Katz had previously won several tournaments and boasted of his prowess in an interview posted to YouTube.

In a video circulating social media, an announcer is heard introducing Katz by commenting on his intense focus and standoffish attitude. “David Katz keeps to himself. He’s a man of business. … He’s not here to make friends.”

He used at least one handgun to commit the shooting.

Authorities have identified 24-year-old David Katz of Columbia as the person who shot and killed two and injured 10 others before taking his own life during a tournament for the Madden football video-game franchise. Elijah Clayton, a 22-year-old football star from California, and Taylor Robertson, a 28-year-old from West Virginia, were killed in the shooting.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said at a news conference Monday afternoon that investigators have not yet determined a motive.

He said Katz recently purchased two handguns used in the shooting legally from a licensed dealer in the Baltimore area.

He also attended the University of Maryland previously, but was not enrolled this semester, university President Wallace Loh said. He enrolled beginning in September 2014, and majored in environmental science and technology, a university spokeswoman said. He did not live on campus.

Natalie Gill, a former teaching assistant and graduate student at the University of Maryland, said Katz struggled and kept to himself when he was in her class in the fall 2015. She said the picture of him going around online “with no smiling” reminded her of “how he looked all the time.”

“I knew the other students very well, but he did not open up the same way as the others did,” Gill, 27, said. “I pulled him aside and asked if there was anything I could do to help and he basically had no reaction to that.”

Gill said Katz had a hard time keeping up with the assignments, but thanked her at the end of the semester for “being a good T.A.”

Peggy Marx, 52, remembers the family keeping mostly to themselves. She would invite them to neighborhood barbecues and events, but they’d never come. Some neighbors, Marx said, would comment on how they saw police cars outside the family home. Marx says the Katz family left the neighborhood nearly a decade ago, but she still remembers them. “Them being antisocial,” she said. “That’s the only thing that makes them memorable.”

Another neighbor remembers them somewhat differently. Renee Williamson said the family was very quiet, but did try to reach out occasionally. When Williamson gave birth many years ago, the Katz family brought over a gift. Still, she didn’t know the family well. They once invited her to their son’s karate tournament. They haven’t spoken since the family moved, and the parents divorced.

We feel like, after what happened, it may not be as safe as it was before,” Peppler said. “There should never be a fear of someone taking our lives because of video games.“

The suspect who opened fire during a Madden video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday actively targeted other gamers in his shooting spree, Sheriff Mike Williams said.

David Katz, a 24-year-old gamer from Baltimore, Maryland, was in town for the tournament at GLHF Game Bar at the Jacksonville Landing, a downtown shopping and dining complex. He walked past patrons in other parts of the restaurant and then opened fire on his fellow competitive gamers before killing himself, Williams said.


The shooting left two people dead, 10 injured from gunshots and one person with a non-gunshot injury, Williams said. All of the injured are expected to survive, he said.
"As bad as this is, it could have been much worse," Williams said.

Alexander Madunic, a gamer who was shot in the foot, said the shooter lost a game in the Madden tournament earlier in the day and was angry.

On Monday, Memorial Hospital released the names of four surviving victims it treated:
-- George Amadeo II, 17, is in good condition.
-- David Echevarria, 28, was treated for minor injuries and released.
-- Alexander Madunic, 27, is in good condition after a gunshot wound to the foot.
-- Christopher McFarland, 31, is in good condition after a bullet graze to the head.
UF Health said four patients were discharged, but two others remain hospitalized. One is in serious condition and one is in good condition, the hospital said

Television news reported that Katz had had several involuntary hospitalizations (one report said 6, another report said 4). There was a suggestion of schizophrenia and psychosis.

So how was he able to legally buy two handguns in Maryland?

As a person formerly involved in the mental health field, I can say that notifying authorities of psychiatric history is a HUGE issue in these gun-control situations. I don't see this being acknowledged anywhere in the press. Mental health providers are barred by privacy laws (HIPAA and others) from disclosing treatment and diagnostic history of patients. Any provider who does so is in serious legal jeopardy. So it's fine to say felons and the mentally ill should not be able to buy guns; but it's another matter entirely to enforce that. (And felons have succeeded in buying guns, too, usually in another jurisdiction.)

Television news reported that Katz had had several involuntary hospitalizations (one report said 6, another report said 4). There was a suggestion of schizophrenia and psychosis.

So how was he able to legally buy two handguns in Maryland?

As a person formerly involved in the mental health field, I can say that notifying authorities of psychiatric history is a HUGE issue in these gun-control situations. I don't see this being acknowledged anywhere in the press. Mental health providers are barred by privacy laws (HIPAA and others) from disclosing treatment and diagnostic history of patients. Any provider who does so is in serious legal jeopardy. So it's fine to say felons and the mentally ill should not be able to buy guns; but it's another matter entirely to enforce that. (And felons have succeeded in buying guns, too, usually in another jurisdiction.)

It seems a bro gamer out there got a little too butthurt from losing a game of madden ...