By Robin Postell

A Sunday, August 26, 2018 Jacksonville Landing shooting resulted in three dead, including the gunman. Police received a 911 call around 1:34  p.m. Sunday that shots had been fired at the popular Madden 19 NFL video gaming qualifier for an upcoming tournament worth $165,000 in Las Vegas later this year.

The tragedy shines a light on eSports, an increasingly popular virtual entertainment industry approaching the billion dollar value mark. Competitors stand to lose, and gain, big money, big fan bases, and big endorsements from eSports like Madden NFL.

The Sunday event held at a gaming hub located in the Chicago Pizza restaurant in downtown Jacksonville, Florida brought together serious competitors, including gunman David Katz, 24, aka “bread” in the gaming subculture, who had traveled to the event from his home of Baltimore, Maryland.

Reasons for Katz’ attack seem to be simple. He was a serious competitor, and a sore loser. Katz had won the Madden 17 NFL tournament in Buffalo in 2017. When he was eliminated from the Sunday tournament he reportedly couldn’t hack it.

Two well-known gamers in the qualifier, Eli “trueboy” Clayton, 21, and Taylor “spotmeplzzz” Robertson, 27, were killed by Katz, while 11 more were injured. Katz turned the gun on himself shortly after opening fire and was dead on the scene.

Katz’ home in Baltimore was raided by FBI agents Sunday evening. Family and neighbors were questioned.