Poor loser opens fire at eSports event

Media reports from Jacksonville, Florida over the weekend alleged that an eSports competitive event broke up in panic after a losing gamer appeared to lose control of his emotions, pulled out a hand gun and opened fire indiscriminately, wounding 11 people and killing two before fatally shooting himself.

Police identified the shooter as David Katz, a 24-year-old gamer from Baltimore, Maryland who was in Jacksonville for the tournament at GLHF Game Bar. CNN reported that at 1 pm on Sunday, he brought a gun into the venue and opened fire.

The venue was hosting a tournament for competitive eSports players of the football video game, Madden.

Eyewitnesses told local reporters that Katz had been eliminated from the tournament prior to the shooting and “was upset”.  The shooting was caught on a Twitch live stream.

Media reports indicated that Katz was an accomplished eSports Madden player who used the handle “Bread” and had previously won Madden tournaments in 2017.

EA Sports, a video game developer and publisher, condemned the shooting as “a senseless act of violence,” whilst CompLexity Gaming founder and CEO Jason Lake told CNN that the shooting may make the growing eSports industry reconsider security at events.

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