Two shot dead at Florida video game event

Nine others injured in Jacksonville before player kills himself

JACKSONVILLE, FLA.— A gunman opened fire Sunday at an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing two people and then fatally shooting himself in an attack that sent several others to hospitals, authorities said.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said authorities believe 24-year-old David Katz of Baltimore carried out the attack using at least one handgun at the Jacksonville Landing, a collection of restaurants and shops along the St. Johns River. He said the man died from a selfinflicted gunshot and that authorities were still making final confirmation of his identity with the FBI assisting them in Baltimore. Nine other people were wounded by gunfire and all were in stable condition Sunday evening, Williams said. He added that two others were injured in the chaos as people sought to flee the gunfire.

Katz was in Jacksonville for the Madden NFL 19 video game tournament. The game’s maker, EA Sports, lists a David Katz as a 2017 championship winner. According to Stephen “Steveyj” Javaruski, one of the competitors, Katz had lost by the time of the shooting.

The competition was held in the GLHF Game Bar, which shares space with a pizzeria. Viewers could watch the games on Twitch, an online gaming network owned by Amazon, and see the players.

Investigators were looking into online video that appeared to capture the scene right before the shooting began, Williams said. A red dot that appears to be a laser pointer is visible on the chest of a player seconds before the first of a dozen gunshots rings out.

Marquis Williams, 28, and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, 26, both from Chicago, were ordering pizza at the bar when they heard the gunfire. Williams said people trampled each other in the panic while trying to get away.

“Initially we thought it was a balloon popping, but there weren’t any balloons in the room. Then we heard repeat shots and we took off running,” said Williams, who participated in the tournament earlier.

Jason Lake, the founder and CEO of compLexity, a company that owns professional e-sports teams, said on Twitter that one of his players, 19-year-old Drini Gjoka, was shot in the thumb.

Gjoka tweeted: “I am literally so lucky. The bullet hit my thumb. Worst day of my life.”

Sujeil Lopez was at home in the Tampa Bay area when she got a call that her 25-year-old son, who goes by Larry, had been shot.

“I have to get to him. I am four hours away from him and I have to get to my son,” Lopez said.