A gunman opened fire today at a Madden NFL 19 tournament today, killing three people and injuring 11. The event took place at the GLHF gaming bar in Jacksonville Florida. The shooter killed himself and was found among the victims when police arrived. He has since been identified as 24-year-old David Katz from Baltimore, who was a competitive madden player and was scheduled to play at the tournament.
The tournament was being live streamed on multiple platforms and multiple gunshots can be heard with screams erupting in the background before the footage
At first, multiple news sources reported contradictory information regarding the number of victims of the shooting but Baltimore Sherrif Williams h as since confirmed that 3 people have been killed and that the 11 people that were injured are all in stable condition in the hospital. He further commented on the search and lockdown procedure of the mall at which the GLHF bar and the sweep that was performed by the SWAT teams. For more information check out the full statement made by Williams here
Multiple professionals players within the Madden community have already made statements regarding their safety, such as Dubby who said that a bullet grazed his head resulting in a minor scratch but severe traumatic damage. A gamer part of the Complexity esports organization Drini Gjoka said that a bullet had hit his thumb and that he is lucky to be alive. Another Madden professional Problem Wright, a big name within the Madden community, tweeted that the two people killed were Trueboy and Spotmeplzzz and that the Madden community is broken.
Crying and in so much pain. Prayers to the families of Trueboy and Spotme. All over a videogame. Two of our brothers are gone man and its so disturbing. One of the most tragic days ive experienced. This community is like family. Broken.
— PROBLEM (@ProblemWright) August 26, 2018
EA has also made a statement via Twitter commenting on the events of the day, expressing their sympathies to everyone involved. As did other several high prolific game developers, teams, and streamers.
— Electronic Arts (@EA) August 27, 2018
My heart goes out to the family, friends and people affected by the madden shooting today. Evil times we live in, just need to out shine that evil with positivity.
Love you all
— Ninja (@Ninja) August 26, 2018
