August 26, 2018

Multiple Fatalities in Mass Shooting at Jacksonville Madden Video Game Event

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, right, holds a news conference Sunday after a gunman opened fire during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals.Laura Heald/AP

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Update 5 pm ET: Jacksonville sheriff Mike Williams said at a press conference Sunday afternoon that the scene had been cleared and that there were no outstanding suspects.

The Jacksonville, Florida, sheriff’s office is warning people to stay away from a riverfront entertainment district there known as the Landing, after a mass shooting event Sunday. 

Local news sources report that 11 people were shot and four killed in the shooting, and the sheriff’s office says that one suspect is reported dead at the scene. The shooting occurred at a Madden football video game tournament taking place at the Landing. One of the competitors, Drini Gjoka, who last year became the youngest competitor ever to win an EA Sports Madden NFL Championship Series belt, was among the injured: He tweeted from inside the event:

A tweet that appears to include footage of the tournament interrupted by gunshots and screams from the shooting is making the rounds. (Warning: disturbing content.) 

 

David Hogg, a former student at Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, who survived the February shooting there that killed 17 people, was with other gun control activists in front of a Smith & Wesson facility in Massachusetts protesting gun violence when the shooting in Jacksonville took place. He tweeted at his home-state senator, Marco Rubio (R):

 

He also called on the media asking that they not publicize the name or photo of the alleged shooter once his identity is known, as part of an effort to take the celebrity out of mass shootings:

This is a developing story and Mother Jones will update as more information becomes available.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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