Jacksonville Shooter Targeted Other Gamers

KTLA — The suspect who opened fire during a Madden video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, on Sunday actively targeted other gamers in his shooting spree, Sheriff Mike Williams said.

David Katz, a 24-year-old gamer from Baltimore, Maryland, was in town for the tournament at GLHF Game Bar at the Jacksonville Landing, a downtown shopping and dining complex. He walked past patrons in other parts of the restaurant and then opened fire on his fellow competitive gamers before killing himself, Williams said.

The shooting left two people dead, 10 injured from gunshots and one person with a non-gunshot injury, Williams said. All of the injured are expected to survive, he said.

“As bad as this is, it could have been much worse,” Williams said.

Katz’s motive in the shooting remains under investigation, police said. The suspect had legally purchased two weapons in Baltimore over the past month, and one of the weapons had a laser sight that attached to the gun, officials said.

Alexander Madunic, a gamer who was shot in the foot, said the shooter lost a game in the Madden tournament earlier in the day and was angry.

“He was kinda upset about that, so I’m guessing that had something else to do with it, too,” Madunic said.

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So sad.

The media is now confirming that David Katz had an ongoing history of mental illness and was prescribed a cocktail of psychiatric medications including an antipsychotic, and saw “a number of psychiatrists.

Do you think that the meds helped play a part in his mental breakdown, ultimately pushing him over the edge to murder/suicide? So far all of the photos I have seen of him, he appears to be heavily sedated.

There has to be some accountability placed on brain chemical altering medications although understandably a lot of people solely blame guns for these kinds of atrocities. I personally think we need to take a deeper look into mental illness as equally as gun control.

Thoughts?