Jacksonville shooting survivors to file lawsuit
Attorney: Safety must take priority over profits
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Several survivors of the deadly shooting at a gaming bar will file a negligent-security lawsuit within days, lawyers said Tuesday.
Matt Morgan said his firm’s clients include one person who was shot twice in Sunday’s assault. Others suffered physical or emotional injuries when David Katz, 24, opened fire at a “Madden NFL 19” video game competition Sunday at GLHF Game Bar. Katz killed two people and wounded 10 before fatally shooting himself.
“Unfortunately, the country has watched this unfold too often in the past,” Morgan said. “This is not the time in America for bare-bones security or, even worse, no security at all.”
Morgan declined to identify his clients but said his law firm is getting calls from survivors. He declined to name the likely targets of the litigation. The bar, which occupies space in the back of a Chicago Pizza restaurant, hosted the event. The bar and restaurant are part of the Jacksonville Landing entertainment complex, a waterfront area owned by the city. The event was organized by video game giant EA.
“The safety of Americans must always come before profits. It must always be people over profits,” Morgan said.
Other Jacksonville Landing businesses, which have been closed since the shooting, reopened Tuesday. Some returning workers peered into the windows of Chicago Pizza, where they could see tables and chairs returned to upright positions after many had been toppled by patrons scrambling to flee.
The floor, which had been covered with broken plates and glasses, was spotless. Two Chicago Pizza employees hurried past onlookers, unlocked the front door, went inside, then closed and locked the door.
Martin Barnett, who lives a couple of blocks away, said he was standing on a sidewalk when the chaos unfolded.
“I didn’t know what was going on, but I didn’t want to go in this direction,” said Barnett, 59. “It had nothing to do with here, nothing to do with gaming. It was a sad day and a sad event.”
He said the Landing has struggled in recent years with shops shuttered and crime in and near the outdoor marketplace, but he wants it to remain open.
“I hope this doesn’t put the final nail in the coffin,” he said. “It’s just such a unique place in Jacksonville.”
Sunday’s Madden competition was a qualifying event for the Madden Classic, a national competition offering hun-
“This is not the time in America for bare-bones security or, even worse, no security at all.”
Attorney Matt Morgan
dreds of thousands of dollars in prize money. EA said it canceled the three remaining qualifiers, pending a review of safety procedures.
Killed were Taylor Robertson, 27, of Ballard, West Virginia, and Eli Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, California, who competed in the Jacksonville event. Robertson, a husband and father, won the Madden Classic in 2017.
John Wester of the Tampa field division of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms said Katz was armed with two handguns purchased legally within the past month from a licensed dealer in Baltimore, where Katz lived.
One of the weapons had an aftermarket laser sight attached to the trigger. A livestream of the Jacksonville tournament showed what appears to be a red laser dot on a victim’s chest seconds before the shooting began.