Gunman opens fire At esports tourney
Multiple people are dead and injured after a lone gunman opened fire Sunday in the middle of a video game tournament that drew professional players from around the world.
The mass shooting happened during the Madden 19 video game tournament at Jackson Landing, a waterfront shopping and dining area at the heart of downtown Jacksonville in Florida. Jacksonville County Sheriff Mike Williams has released few details about the shooting, including how many were killed and injured, only saying that the suspect is now dead.
But area hospitals said they were treating at least nine shooting victims, three of whom were shot multiple times.
The gunfire comes six months after a massacre at a high school in Parkland, Florida, that left 17 dead. The Jacksonville shooting is the latest shooting rampage to erupt in an otherwise peaceful place — a wave of violence that has extended across the country — this time erupting at a popular waterfront destination in northern Florida.
Esports tournaments such as the Sunday event involve professional competitors vying for prize money in games streamed to thousands of online spectators. The Jacksonville event was a regional qualifier leading to an October final in Las Vegas, with a top prize of $25,000. It was unclear how many players were in the mall when the shooting occurred.
The shooting happened inside one of the mall’s restaurants, which was hosting the tournament.
A live stream of the competition on Twitch showed a red laser dot briefly appearing on a competitor’s sweatshirt before the camera angle switched and gunshots could be heard. The competitor has not been identified, and it’s unclear whether he was hit.
Danny Flaherty, a 22-yearold gamer from the United Kingdom, said that he heard gunshots and that his “only thoughts” afterward were “to run.”
Another player, Drini Gjoka, said a bullet hit him in the thumb.
“I will never take anything for granted ever again,” Gjoka wrote on Twitter. “Life can be cut short in a second.”
Six shooting victims were treated at University of Florida Health. Three were shot multiple times, mostly in the torso and chest, while a few others were shot in the extremities, Dr. Marie Crandall told WJXT. Five are stable, while the sixth victim remains in serious condition with a chest wound.
Three other shooting victims, now in stable condition, were treated at Memorial Hospital in southeast Jacksonville, hospital spokesman Peter Moberg said. And one woman who was not shot, but was hurt while fleeing was treated for minor injuries at Baptist Medical Center, spokeswoman Cindy Hamilton said.