Multiple people were killed, and nearly a dozen others were injured on Sunday afternoon, after a male gunman opened fire in Jacksonville, Florida during a video game tournament.
The fatal incident took place at a shopping complex knowm as Jacksonville Landing during a competition between numerous players of the John Madden football game.
According to CNN and other news sources, the suspect has been identified as 24-year old David Katz.
He is a white male from Baltimore, Maryland and his took his own life inside the establishment after using at least one handgun to murder two unnamed individuals.
Police have confirmed that Katz was a participant in the aforementioned tournament, but his motive has not yet been established.
(Previous reports that he lost control after being eliminated from the content have not been verified.)
The Landing is an open-air marketplace with stores, bars and restaurants in downtown Jacksonville, along the St. Johns River.
Because those playing at the time Katz opened fure were part of a qualifying event for a national tournament, there was a livestream of some of the games.
In one piece of footage posted to the website Twitch, several loud gunshots can be heard and the game abruptly stops.
We’re not going to play that awful footage here, but you can hear chaos in the background, as well as a multitude of curse words and one person shouting out:
“Oh f-ck! What’d he shoot me with?”
A series of 12 total gunshots can be heard in this video.
In addition to those killed, 11 people were transported to hospitals with injuries, including nine with gunshot wounds.
Memorial Hospital spokesman Pete Moberg told CNN that at least three patients transported there were in stable condition, while tournament participant Ryan Alemon told the outlet hat he observed “at least six bodies” of shooting victims “on the floor.”
Until the suspect was announced dead and no others believed to have played a role in the shooting, authories kept locals apprised of the situation via social media.
They told everyone to stay far away from the area; and they told those already there to take cover and to remain hidden until they received word it was safe.
“We ask you to stay calm, stay where you are hiding,” the Sheriff’s Office wrote at one point. “SWAT is doing a methodical search inside The Landing. We will get to you. Please don’t come running out.
A search is pending of the gunman’s vehicle, Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said at a press conference.
Officers with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI are assisting in Baltimore, he added.
Wrote one tournament participant, 19-year-old Drini Gjoka, on Twitter:
“The tourney just got shot up. [I’m leaving] and never coming back…
“I am literally so lucky. The bullet hit my thumb. Worst day of my life.”
“The nation once again looks to Florida with grief and heavy hearts,” former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords, who was seriously wounded in a mass shooting, said in a statement, adding:
“The massacre in Jacksonville is a tragic reminder of the threats we face from gun violence, no matter who we are or where our day takes us.
“And it’s yet another devastating indictment of this country’s inability to keep our kids safe.”
This shooting comes about one month after a shooting at the Capital Gazette newspaper in Maryland killed five people.
A month prior to that, 10 people were killed at Santa Fe High School in Texas.
Three months before that, 17 people were fatally shot at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida.
Expect many politicians to offer their thoughts and prayers and to do absolutely nothing in the wake of these tragedies.