A gamer at the Jacksonville Madden 19 tournament who witnessed the mass shooting there on Aug. 26 said that he doesn’t blame guns for what happened.
“This is just sad, it shouldn’t happen, it honestly should never happen,” the witness told First Coast News.
“I’m not going to blame guns for this, it’s a person’s actions that got upset. It’s really just unfortunate and absolutely ridiculous,” he said.
Eli “Trueboy” Clayton and Taylor “SpotMePlzzz” Robertson were confirmed as the two dead in addition to Katz.
Clayton was seen playing a tournament game in the live stream just before the stream cut away and the shooting started. However, audio was still available and broadcast the shots. According to his EA Sports profile, Clayton was from California. The profile stated, “True is consistently one of the best in competitive Madden.”
Officials said 11 other people were shot but survived.
Several attendees posted on Twitter that they had been shot but were lucky—grateful that they were still alive.
Dalton Kent, 22, another gamer, was shot in the shin.
Shooter
Katz, 22, was identified as the shooter late Saturday.A number of photos and videos have been circulating on social media websites that appear to show Katz. On Twitter, users said his Madden name was “ravens2012champs” and “Ravenschamp,” apparently in reference to the Baltimore Ravens NFL team.
Stephen “Steveyj” Javaruski, another gamer, told the Los Angeles Times that Katz became upset after losing in the tournament and whipped out a handgun. The shooter “targeted a few people” while shooting at a bevy of others and then killed himself, Javaruski said.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said that the shooter was dead at the scene and officers in Baltimore, where Katz lived, raided his home.
