EA cancels remaining Madden events after fatal Florida shooting
The Jacksonville event was the first in four planned video game tournaments scheduled for the coming month.
A Jacksonville Sheriff officer walks past the GLHF Game Bar where three people including the gunman were killed at the Jacksonville Landing on Sunday.
EA has canceled the remaining three qualifying events in its Madden Classic competition in the wake of a shooting Sunday at a video game tournament that left three dead and injured 11.
Elijah Clayton, 22, and Taylor Robertson, 27, died of gunshot wounds Sunday during a shooting at a Madden 19 tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, the first of four planned qualifier events before the Madden finals in Las Vegas in October. Those events, the first of which was scheduled for this next weekend in Dulles, Virginia , won't be held, EA Chief Executive Andrew Wilson announced Monday evening.
"While these qualifying events are operated independently by partners, we work with them to ensure competitive integrity and to gather feedback from players," Wilson wrote in a blog post. "We have made a decision to cancel our three remaining Madden Classic qualifier events while we run a comprehensive review of safety protocols for competitors and spectators. We will work with our partners and our internal teams to establish a consistent level of security at all of our competitive gaming events."
The shooting occurred around 1:34 p.m. ET at the Jacksonville Landing marketplace in downtown Jacksonville during the Madden 19 Tournament at the GLHF Game Bar inside the Chicago Pizza restaurant. At least a dozen shots could be heard fired on a livestream originating from the event.
Authorities said the shooter, David Katz, a 24-year-old from Baltimore, took his own life. Authorities have declined to discuss a possible motive, but the Los Angeles Times has reported the shooter was a gamer who was competing in the tournament and lost.
Immediately after the shooting, EA Sports, publisher of the Madden game franchise and organizer of the events, issued a statement on Twitter expressing its condolences.
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