'Video gamer' kills two and injures eleven after opening fire at Jacksonville tournament

Police officers cordon off a street outside The Jacksonville Landing after a shooting during a video game tournament
REUTERS
Ella Wills27 August 2018

A participant in a game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida shot two people dead and injured 11 others before killing himself, police said.

Authorities named the killer as 24-year-old David Katz, from Baltimore, and said he used at least one handgun in the incident at the Jacksonville Landing, a shopping and entertainment complex.

Final confirmation of the suspect's identity was pending as the FBI in Baltimore aided in the investigation, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said.

Nine people wounded by the gunfire were all in stable condition on Sunday evening after being taken to hospitals.

Two others were injured in the rush to flee the gunfire.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams holds a news conference on Sunday
AP

The deadly violence stunned gamers competing during the "Madden NFL 19" - a new football video game - tournament.

The competition was held in a gaming bar that shares space with a pizzeria. Viewers could watch the games online and see the players.

Police are investigating an online video which appears to show the scene right before the shooting.

A red dot that appears to be a laser pointer can be seen on the chest of a player seconds before the first of about a dozen gunshots rings out.

A heavy police presence remained into the night at the shooting
Getty Images

The "Madden" game's maker, EA Sports, lists a David Katz as a 2017 championship winner.

Authorities did not give a motive for the shootings.

"No one deserves to die over playing a videogame, you know?" said "Madden" competitor Derek Jones, 30, of Santa Fe, New Mexico.

"We're just out here trying to win some money for our families and stuff."

The competition was held in a gaming bar that shares space with a pizzeria
Getty Images

Mr Jones said he was sitting in a back patio outside the tournament venue when he heard the gunshots.

He jumped a fence and ran, leaving behind his backpack and cellphone.

"You know, I'm glad I lost today," Mr Jones 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."

Federal authorities stage and search a home in Baltimore's Inner Harbor as part of an investigation into the Jacksonville shooting
AP

Mr 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.

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

Gjoka tweeted: "The tourney just got shot up. Im leaving and never coming back."

Then: "I am literally so lucky. The bullet hit my thumb. Worst day of my life."

On Sunday evening, the FBI said its agents searched a family home of the man authorities believed was behind the attack.

Heavily armed agents, some in bulletproof vests and brandishing long guns, could be seen entering an upscale townhome complex near Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

An FBI spokesman, Dave Fitz, confirmed that agents had gone to the house of the man's father in Baltimore.

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.

The Jacksonville Landing, in the heart of the city's downtown, also hosts concerts and other entertainment. It was the site of a Trump rally in 2015, early in his campaign for the White House.

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