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

Fight disinformation: Sign up for the free Mother Jones Daily newsletter and follow the news that matters.

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.

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

BEFORE YOU CLICK AWAY!

Mother Jones was founded to do journalism differently. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after stories others don’t. We’re a nonprofit newsroom, because the kind of truth-telling investigations we do doesn’t happen under corporate ownership.

And the essential ingredient that makes all this possible? Readers like you.

It’s reader support that enables Mother Jones to devote the time and resources to report the facts that are too difficult, expensive, or inconvenient for other news outlets to uncover. Please help with a donation today if you can—even a few bucks will make a real difference. A monthly gift would be incredible.

payment methods

We Recommend

Latest

Sign up for our free newsletter

Subscribe to the Mother Jones Daily to have our top stories delivered directly to your inbox.

Get our award-winning magazine

Save big on a full year of investigations, ideas, and insights.

Subscribe

Support our journalism

Help Mother Jones' reporters dig deep with a tax-deductible donation.

Donate