Ryen Aleman was engrossed in the virtual world, focused on the video game in front of him, when he realized the gunshots he was hearing were real.
He ducked and bolted for a restroom to take cover. Another mass shooting was unfolding in Florida, this time at a tournament for competitive players of the football video game, Madden, in Jacksonville. The winners would go on to a higher level tournament in Las Vegas in October, where large cash prizes could be won.
He ducked and bolted for a restroom to take cover. Another mass shooting was unfolding in Florida, this time at a tournament for competitive players of the football video game, Madden, in Jacksonville. The winners would go on to a higher level tournament in Las Vegas in October, where large cash prizes could be won.
Participants had gathered at the Jacksonville Landing Complex, an open-air marketplace with stores, bars and restaurants along the St. Johns River. David Katz, a 24-year-old gamer from Baltimore, Maryland, was in Jacksonville for the tournament at GLHF Game Bar, in the back of a pizza restaurant. On Sunday, he brought a gun into the venue and opened fire, killing two people. Then he turned the gun on himself, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said. Police have not released a possible motive.
At a briefing at 4.30pm local time, Sheriff Mike Williams told reporters: “We have no outstanding suspects at this point. We will have more information at a full briefing in a few hours.”Earlier, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told people to “stay far away from the area”.“We are finding many people hiding in locked areas at The Landing. We ask you to stay calm, stay where you are hiding. SWAT is doing a methodical search inside The Landing. We will get to you. Please don’t come running out,” the sheriff’s office said via Twitter. The sheriff’s office didn’t provide any other information, but also warned news media to stay away from the area, which contains restaurants and shops along the St. Johns River. A number of people have been killed and others have been injured in a mass shooting in the US. The sheriff’s office in Jacksonville, Florida is reporting “multiple fatalities” following the shooting at a riverfront shopping centre in the city. It is reported that a gunman opened fire at a video game tournament at the shopping centre and that the male suspect was a top player of NFL Madden, an American football video game. The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not immediately confirm the number of dead, although authorities reported earlier that multiple people had been killed and many others had been transported to hospitals.
