On Aug. 26, there was a fatal shooting at the Landing in Jacksonville, Florida. Three people were killed, including the shooter and many were injured by bullet wounds as well as other injuries from fleeing the scene. The victims who lost their lives were Eli “Trueboy” Clayton and Taylor “SpotMePlzzz” Robertson.

All of the victims were competing in a tournament for the game Madden 19. Madden 19 is a competitive video game based around the NFL that can be played across many different platforms. Sophomore Annie Barrett states, “Madden is often more competitive than other games because you’re playing one versus one.” But the gaming experience differs for many others. Freshman Colin Lenhardt says, “I find that Madden doesn’t cause me to be mad like in Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds or other games.”

This tournament was live streamed on Twitch in front of thousands of people. In the playback of the livestream, one can hear the bullets being fired and the chaotic screams. The facecam was cut and nothing graphic was shown on the live stream.

The shooter was 24 year old David Katz, who was a professional Esports Madden player. He had some history with mental health issues in the past during his parents divorce and he was still unstable. When asked about the issue of mental health, senior Gage Howard says, “I think it would be a good idea for EA Sports to give players mental health checks to prevent this from happening again.”

Katz lost in a game of Madden and was ridiculed by other players after the loss. This caused him to overreact and grab his gun that he recently legally purchased in his home city of Baltimore, Maryland. He then went on a shooting spree, killing two people and injuring many more.  The live stream video shows a red laser on a players chest while he was playing a game, and one of the guns that David Katz recently purchased had a laser pointer.

Convention and event security has been questioned a lot in the past. Plenty of tragedies have happened at these convention and events. David Katz was able to bring in two guns to the event with no trouble at all. Many people thought that security teams should up their game. For example, junior Tyler Reents states, “Security companies should spend more money to better train their employees because it’s important to keep everyone safe at all times.”