This goes without saying, but I’mma say it anyway, 2018 is the most outrageous year that I’ve witnessed in my four plus decades on the planet. The celebrity deaths, white terrorist shootings, a quasi-white nationalist in the White House and previously declassified documents of UFO’s evading U.S. fighter jets are all part of the temporal and historic record.
Indeed, when news first broke about a shooting in Florida, this writer’s very first inclination was to believe it was somehow race related. After all, it is the state of Florida, one of the most gun-happy, anti-black places in the entire country.
However, upon examining the information, the crime seemed to be that much more heinous. According to reports, 24-year-old gamer David Katz of Baltimore, Maryland was competing at the Madden Tournament in Jacksonville, Florida before he snapped. The winner of the Jacksonville Landing Complex round would advance to Las Vegas in October to compete for large cash prizes.
Video Shows Moment Shots Are Fired At Jacksonville Shooting | MSNBC
Video of a live stream shared online where individuals are playing the Madden NFL video game shows the moments the tournament is interrupted by a series of shots and screaming. Law enforcement officials told local NBC News affiliate First Coast News that four people are dead and 11 are injured.
He reportedly brought a gun into the venue on Sunday and opened fire, killing two people before turning the gun on himself. Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said police have not released a possible motive.
Nine other people suffered gunshot wounds and two people were injured fleeing the area.
Katz, who went by the gaming naming “Bread” and previously won Madden tournaments in 2017, is a young white male. Though it would be impossible to speculate his racial mindset, his actions align with those of other white male shooters in that they believe that they were somehow slighted or shorted something that they believed they deserved.
“We have got to change,” Gov. Rick Scott told reporters Sunday night. “We’ve got to really stop and say to ourselves: there’s something wrong.”
“Why are young men willing to give up their life, or why don’t they value somebody else’s life?” he said. “We’ve got to figure this out.”