Investigators believe gunman committed shooting because it was the anniversary of video game tourney attack

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Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams addresses the media across the street from the scene of a multiple shooting at The Jacksonville Landing during a video game tournament, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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Police investigate the scene of a multiple shooting Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, at the Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., during a Madden Championship Series video game tournament. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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Law enforcement boats patrol the St. Johns River at the scene of a multiple shooting at the Jacksonville Landing Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018 in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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Florida Highway patrolmen block the entrance to the Main Street Bridge near the scene of a mass shooting at Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Florida authorities are reporting multiple fatalities at the riverfront mall that was hosting a video game tournament. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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A man on a bicycle is escorted away by police officers after he wandered into a crime scene near a mass shooting at Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Florida authorities are reporting multiple fatalities at the riverfront mall that was hosting a video game tournament. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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Bomb squad police prepare a robot to enter a parking garage a block away from the scene of a multiple shooting at the Jacksonville Landing Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, during a video game competition in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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State Attorney Melissa Nelson, left, arrives to the scene of a multiple shooting at the Jacksonville Landing Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, during a video game competition in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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A police officer directs a pedestrian away from a blocked-off area near the scene of a mass shooting at Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Florida authorities are reporting multiple fatalities at the riverfront mall that was hosting a video game tournament. (AP Photo/John Raoux)

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Police investigate the scene of a multiple shooting at the Jacksonville Landing Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, during a video game competition in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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Police investigate the scene at the Jacksonville Landing Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, after a mass shooting during a Madden Championship Series competition at the Good Luck Have Fun video game bar at The Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals, authorities said. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

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Police gather after an active shooter was reported at the Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. A gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals. (AP Photo/Laura Heald)

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Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams, right, holds a news conference, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla., after a gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals. (AP Photo/Laura Heald)

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CORRECTS YEAR TO 2018 - Law enforcement patrols the St. Johns River by boat just outside the Jacksonville Landing where an active shooter was reported Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018 in Jacksonville, Fla. after a gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals. (AP Photo/Laura Heald)

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The Coast Guard patrols the St. Johns River outside The Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Fla., Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. Florida authorities are reporting multiple fatalities after a mass shooting at the riverfront mall that was hosting a video game tournament. (AP Photo/Laura Heald)

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Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams holds a news conference, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla., after a gunman opened fire Sunday during an online video game tournament that was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing multiple people and sending many others to hospitals. (AP Photo/Laura Heald)

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An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stands outside the family home, in Baltimore, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, of the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives stands outside the family home, left door, in Baltimore, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, of the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives leaves the family home, in Baltimore, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, of the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Federal authorities stage and search a home in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor as part of an investigation into the Jacksonville mass shooting, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018. An FBI official in Baltimore confirmed that its agents were searching the family home of the man authorities said they believe was behind the attack. (Justin Fenton/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

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An agent with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, left, conducts an investigation, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in a Baltimore neighborhood in connection with the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (Kenneth K. Lam/The Baltimore Sun via AP)

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Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives leave after searching the family home, in Baltimore, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, of the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives leave the family home, in Baltimore, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, of the suspect in a mass shooting earlier in the day in Jacksonville, Fla. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

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Some three blocks are cordoned off around the Landing in downtown.

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Police investigate the scene of a fatal mass shooting at The Jacksonville Landing during a video game tournament, Sunday, Aug. 26, 2018, in Jacksonville, Fla. (Will Dickey/The Florida Times-Union via AP)

By RUSS BYNUM and BRENDAN FARRINGTON

(UPDATED Aug. 26, 2023) Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said the gunman who killed three people in a Jacksonville shooting had left behind writings that led investigators to believe that he committed the shooting because it was the fifth anniversary of when another gunman opened fire during a video game tournament in Jacksonville, killing two people before fatally shooting himself.

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) — A gunman opened fire Sunday at an online video game tournament as it was being livestreamed from a Florida mall, killing two people and then fatally shooting himself in a rampage that wounded several others, authorities said.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said authorities believe 24-year-old David Katz of Baltimore carried out the attack using at least one handgun at the Jacksonville Landing, a collection of restaurants and shops along the St. Johns River. Williams said the man died from a self-inflicted gunshot, adding final confirmation of the suspect’s identity was pending as the FBI in Baltimore aided in the investigation.

Nine other people were wounded by gunfire and all were in stable condition Sunday evening after being taken to hospitals, Williams said. He added that two others were injured in the rush to flee the gunfire.

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Katz was in Jacksonville for the “Madden NFL 19" video game tournament, authorities said. The games maker, EA Sports, lists a David Katz as a 2017 championship winner.

The competition was held in a gaming bar that shares space with a pizzeria. Viewers could watch the games online and see the players.

Investigators were looking into an online video that appeared to capture the scene right before the shooting began, Williams said. A red dot that appears to be a laser pointer is visible on the chest of a player seconds before the first of about a dozen gunshots rings out.

Marquis Williams, 28, and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, 26, both from Chicago, were ordering pizza at the bar when they heard the first shot around 1:30 p.m. on what had begun as a quiet Sunday afternoon.

“Initially we thought it was a balloon popping, but there weren’t any balloons in the room,” said Williams, who had taken part in the tournament earlier. “Then we heard repeat shots and we took off running.”

He added: “The first shot everybody just turned and looked. After the second, third and fourth shots, everybody took off and ran for the exits.”

Poindexter, an aspiring gamer, said she had gone to seek experience at the tournament. She never saw the face of the shooter, but added, “We did see him with two hands on a gun walking back just popping rounds.”

It was then, they said, that people trampled others in the panic to escape. Both ran to a nearby restaurant where workers were waving people inside. They hid in a bathroom until police arrived.

Jason Lake, the founder and CEO of compLexity, a company that owns professional esports teams, said on Twitter that one of his players, 19-year-old Drini Gjoka, was shot in the thumb.

Gjoka tweeted: “The tourney just got shot up. Im leavinng and never coming back.” Then: “I am literally so lucky. The bullet hit my thumb. Worst day of my life.”

On Sunday evening, the FBI said, its agents searched a family home of the man authorities believed was behind the attack.

Heavily armed agents, some in bulletproof vests and brandishing long guns, could be seen entering an upscale townhome complex near Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

An FBI spokesman, Dave Fitz, confirmed that agents had gone to the house of the man’s father in Baltimore. He declined to release specifics, citing the ongoing investigation. T.J. Smith, chief spokesman for the Baltimore Police Department, also said that agency was assisting law enforcement partners “with some information that has led authorities to Baltimore.”

In Washington, White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said President Donald Trump had been briefed on the attack and the White House was monitoring the situation.

The Jacksonville Landing, in the heart of the city’s downtown, also hosts concerts and other entertainment. It was the site of a Trump rally in 2015, early in his campaign for the White House.

The sheriff’s office used Twitter and Facebook immediately after the shooting to warn people to stay far away and to ask anyone who was hiding to call 911. Police also barricaded a three-block radius around the mall and sent in a SWAT team and bomb squad experts to secure the area. Police also took up positions on a bridge spanning the river with a view of the area.

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Farrington reported from Tallahassee, Florida. Associated Press Writer Tamara Lush contributed to this report from the Tampa area and Laura Heald from Jacksonville, Florida.

Sheriff: Gunman kills 2, then himself at video game tourney

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