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3 dead, 11 injured at Jacksonville pizzeria shooting rampage

August 27, 2018

Jacksonville, Florida's downtown Chicago Pizza and Sports Grille was the site of a shooting rampage that claimed three lives and injured 11 Sunday during a Madden NFL 19 video game tournament, according to the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

The pizzeria was the backdrop for the horrific scene, captured in part on the live-stream service Twitch as it relayed the video game tournament to an international audience from the city's waterfront mall. The alleged gunman — identified as a 24-year-old Maryland man who eventually took his own life — gunned down two other people and injured 11 more around 1:30 p.m. Sunday, according to Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams

The victims' identities have not been released Monday morning, but the alleged shooter was David Katz, from Baltimore. He was armed with a handgun, and according to some at the venue had played in the tournament and lost, but his actual motive is not known. The FBI and U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives impounded Katz's car in Baltimore Sunday and went to his apartment. 

Chicago Pizza at the downtown mall was hosting the tournament —  which attracted players from across the country to compete for a spot in a later Las Vegas competition. As Twitch broadcast the tournament it also caught the sounds of gunshots, screams and even reportedly one person shouting, "Oh f---. What did he shoot me with?"

Nothing had been posted regarding the incident on the location's Twitter account as of 8:30 a.m. Monday, but Pizza Marketplace is attempting to reach the operators of the pizza restaurant to determine what, if any, plans they had in place with team members in the event of an outbreak of violence in the location.