Survivors recall chaos of Florida shooting
US - Survivors of a shooting at a video gamers’ competition in Florida in which three people died have told of chaotic scenes as those caught up in the violence trampled over others in panic as they tried to escape.
The dead included the gunman, David Katz, 24, a player on the gaming circuit who is believed to have been angry because he lost Sunday’s tournament. Eleven people were also wounded in the gunfire. One witness who was present during the Madden NFL 19 video game tournament in Jacksonville said she saw Katz as he fired while walking backwards. “We did see him, two hands on the gun, walking back, just popping rounds,” said Taylor Poindexter, 26, who had been ordering pizza at the bar when she heard the first shot. “I was scared for my life and my boyfriend’s,” she told reporters, standing on crutches after spraining her ankle trying to escape. While police have not identified the victims, family members told Jacksonville CBS television station WJAX that the two people killed were Eli Clayton and Taylor Robertson. Both were video game contestants. Robertson, a husband and father from West Virginia, was the winner of the tournament last year and Katz, from California, won it the year before, the Miami Herald reported, citing family and friends posting online.
“No one deserves to die over playing a video game, you know?” said Derek Jones, 30, a competitor from Santa Fe, New Mexico. “We’re just out here trying to win some money for our families.” Jones said he was sitting in a patio outside the tournament venue when he heard gunshots and jumped over a fence to flee. “You know, I’m glad I lost today,” he said. “Because if I’d won, I would have been in that game bar right then playing a game and not paying attention. And he could have come and I’d probably be dead right now.” Jones said he knew Katz by the gamer tags he used online, often “Bread” or “Sliced Bread”, and had played against him online but had never spoken to him personally. Coverage of Katz, from Baltimore, competing in the past showed him with headphones on and a poker face as commentators remarked on his attitude.
(The Guardian)