Dallas Esports Player Among Wounded at Sunday’s Jacksonville Madden Tournament Shooting

A Dallas esports player was among those injured when a gunman opened fire at a Jacksonville, Florida, video game tournament, killing two players before taking his own life Sunday afternoon.

Player Drini Gjoka of the CompLexity Gaming team based in Dallas was one of the competitors at the Madden NFL 19 tournament and suffered a minor injury during the shooting.

David Katz of Baltimore opened fire at the GLHF Game Bar at the Jacksonville Landing Complex during the tournament. Players Taylor Robertson and Eli Clayton were killed by Katz, who killed himself at the scene, according to a CNN report.

CompLexity Gaming, purchased in 2017 by Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and Goff Capital founder John Goff, sent Gjoka to compete in the two-day Madden tournament last Friday, according to Gjoka’s Twitter feed.

The Jacksonville event was one of four qualifiers in the Madden Classic series. The finals will take place in October in Las Vegas, according to EA Sports, the game’s publisher.

The pool of players for Jacksonville is stacked! This gnna be a great tournament to start off the year. Time to ball

— Drini Gjoka (@YoungDrini) August 24, 2018

Katz, a player who competed in Madden tournaments and was listed by EA Sports as a championship winner in 2017, opened fire at 1:34 p.m. Sunday with at least one handgun, killing Robertson and Clayton and injuring nine other people attending the tournament, including Gjoka. CompLexity Gaming released a statement that Gjoka was “grazed in the hand by a bullet but is OK and safely away from the event.”

Gjoka posted on his Twitter about the shooting in the hours that followed, calling it the “Worst day of my life.”

I will never take anything for granted ever again. Life can be cut short in a second

— Drini Gjoka (@YoungDrini) August 26, 2018

Gjoka released a statement just a few hours ago assuring his friends and followers of his safety and thanking them for “the outpouring of love and support I have received over the past day.” He also expressed his “deep and heartfelt condolences” to Robertson’s and Clayton’s families.

“I am shaken and saddened by the tragedy that robbed our community of these incredible young men,” Gjoka wrote.