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Madden shooting victims confirmed, gamers mourn deaths of esports athletes

Elijah Clayton, 22, and Taylor Robertson, 28, were killed Sunday at the video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida.

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Mike Sorrentino is a Senior Editor for Mobile, covering phones, texting apps and smartwatches -- obsessing about how we can make the most of them. Mike also keeps an eye out on the movie and toy industry, and outside of work enjoys biking and pizza making.
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Mike Sorrentino
Three Fatalities Reported At Mass Shooting At Jacksonville Gaming Tournament

The two victims killed in Sunday's Jacksonville shooting were both professional gamers.

 Joe Raedle / Getty Images

Elijah "Trueboy" Clayton, 22, and Tayor "SpotMePlzz" Robertson, 27, died Sunday during a shooting at a Madden 19 tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office confirmed Monday.

Both gamers were well-known members of the professional gaming community who were identified as the victims by friends and family earlier Monday.

Robertson was a member of the Dot City Gaming team, which posted on Twitter about the loss of its teammate and Clayton.

Clayton's former high school football team issued its own statement on Twitter, sending condolences to the victim's family and announcing it will be holding a moment of silence at its Friday game in his honor.

Electronic Arts, developer of the Madden series of football games, sent out an extended message regarding Sunday's tragedy both on Twitter and, according to players' tweets, from inside of the Madden 19 game.

The tournament was airing on the Twitch video broadcasting site before appearing to cut off as the shooting began. Twitch confirmed that content showing footage of the incident is being removed as per the site's community guideline. It tweeted out sentiments Sunday over what took place.

Gamer Eric Wright wrote a series of tweets in honor of Clayton.

Jacksonville Jaguars defensive end Dawuane Smoot tweeted an RIP message for both victims.

And the Tennessee Titans NFL team tweeted out a memorial message for Robertson, noting that he was a father and husband.