Gamers say gunman quiet, ‘kept to himself’
Before the video-game competition began here on Sunday, David Katz was known as a quiet member of the tightknit world of competitive Madden NFL gaming.
People in this community know one another, they say, describing it as a “brotherhood” and a “family.” They are friendly and sometimes collaborate, sharing information and coming up with schemes to win tournaments and competitions involving the popular game. Katz, though, stayed away from that.
“He really kept to himself,” Shay “Kiv” Kivlen, who played in the Jacksonville event, said of Katz, whom he knew virtually but never met in person. “In Madden competitions, he was different . ... He didn’t really want to talk to anyone. He was just there to play.”
Katz, a 24-year-old from Baltimore, shook that community when he opened fire inside the gathering on Sunday, police say. When it was over, the gunman had shot 12 people, killing two, before turning the gun on himself.
Police said surveillance footage from inside the restaurant hosting the competition showed a lone attacker walking by other patrons and going to the backroom, where the contestants had assembled and were playing.
“The suspect clearly targeted other gamers,” Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said Monday.
Authorities said they are retracing Katz’s steps leading up to the shooting. They also are speaking with his parents, who the FBI said have been cooperating with the investigation. Katz attended Hammond High School in Columbia, Maryland, and went on to the University of Maryland beginning in 2014. There, he majored in environmental science and technology, but he was not registered for fall classes, the school said Monday.
The FBI said in a recent study of dozens of active shootings that attackers, frequently fueled by grievances in their lives, obtain their guns legally and then target specific victims. What may have motivated the Jacksonville attack remained unknown Monday, investigators said.
“We don’t have anything that we can stand up here today and tell you that this is the motive,” Williams said at a news briefing.