Police look for motive in Florida shooting

UPDATE: The suspect in Sunday’s deadly shooting at a Florida video game tournament had a history of mental illness, according to court records found on Monday. As a teenager, David Katz, 24, was twice hospitalized in psychiatric facilities and was prescribed antipsychotic and antidepressant medications. The records are part of the divorce filings of Katz’s parents, who disagreed about how to care for their son and divorced in 2007. Katz killed two people and wounded nine others before fatally shooting himself on Sunday afternoon at the Madden NFL 19 tournament in Jacksonville.

OUR EARLIER REPORT (9:02 a.m.): Police on Sunday evening searched the Baltimore, Md., home of the gunman who opened fire at a video game tournament Sunday afternoon in Jacksonville, Fla., killing at least two people and injuring nine others before killing himself. Dozens of players had gathered at a gaming bar in the Jacksonville Landing complex to play and watch EA Sports’ Madden NFL 19 football video game when the gunman opened fire. Authorities identified the shooter as 24-year-old Baltimore native David Katz. EA Sports listed Katz as the tournament’s 2017 champion.

Jacksonville Sheriff Mike Williams said the suspect used one handgun to stage the attack and later died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Police did not comment on a motive, but one witness told The Florida Times-Union that Katz committed the shooting after losing in the tournament. Attendee Marquis Williams described people trampling each other in panic as they tried to flee. “We did see him with two hands on a gun walking back just popping rounds,” fellow attendee Taylor Poindexter told reporters following the attack.

FBI officials on Sunday evening searched Katz’s father’s home in Baltimore as part of the investigation.