Attorneys Suing Over Jacksonville Video Game Shooting

Prominent Florida law firm Morgan and Morgan announced on Aug. 28 that they will be filing lawsuits on behalf of unnamed parties injured in the shooting at the Jacksonville gaming tournament.

Attorney Matt Morgan, flanked by attorneys Tim Moran and James Young, announced at a press conference at the firm’s Jacksonville office, that the firm would file against “all of those they find to be responsible,” in the shooting, which claimed the lives of two online gamers and left 11 others injured.

“This is not a time in America for bare-bones security or, worse, no security at all,” said Morgan, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

“Business as usual, on the security front, will no longer be tolerated by Americans,” he added. “It’s time for business owners and event organizers to step up their game.”

While none of the clients have been identified, Morgan said one of them had been shot several times during the incident.

Police officers cordon off a street outside The Jacksonville Landing after a shooting during a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida August 26, 2018. Reuters/Joey Roulette

Murder at an Electronic Gaming Tournament

The lawsuit arises out of a mass shooting at an electronic gaming tournament held at a restaurant in Jacksonville Landing on Aug. 26.

The tournament was held in the Good Luck Have Fun Game Bar inside the Chicago Pizza, inside the shopping complex known as The Landing in Jacksonville.

Players were competing in a regional semifinal for the Electronic Arts “Madden NFL 19 Championship Series” video game tournament. The remaining two semifinals and the final, scheduled to take place in Las Vegas in October, have been canceled, Jacksonville.com reported.

“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,” Electronic Arts CEO Andrew Wilson said in a statement.

At the Jacksonville tournament, a former winner who lost this year shot and killed last year’s winner and another competitor, and shot 11 other people at random, then turned the gun on himself.

The two gamers killed in the attack were Elijah Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, California, and Taylor Robertson, 28, of West Virginia, the 2017 tournament winner.

Shay Kivlen speaks Monday, Aug. 27, 2018, about the shooting at The Jacksonville Landing in Jacksonville, Florida, the day before. John Raoux/AP Photo

Obligation to Provide Security

In a series of tweets published by WPTV, the gist of the lawsuit is that the tournament organizer did not provide sufficient security.

The shooter, 24-year-old David Katz, of Baltimore, Maryland, brought two loaded pistols into the tournament, plus multiple full magazines. Katz was able to purchase the guns legally in Maryland, despite having twice been hospitalized in psychiatric facilities.

Katz was known in the gaming community for erratic behavior. “We’ve always known he was a little off and stuff just because he wasn’t social at all,” said Shay Kivlen, 21, of Seattle.

According to the tweets, Matt Morgan said that people going to events have an expectation of security, and the owners of The Landing should have known that the area had had security issues in the past, including a shooting in January 2017.

ATF and FBI officers pepare to search the home of suspected Jacksonville shooter David Katz of Baltimore, on Aug. 26, 2018. Screenshot/The Epoch Times

Other tweets stated that Morgan said the suit would be filed later in the week, and that the firm was “going to explore all viable defendants in this suit.”

Morgan said that while this was not the first time his firm had been approached by victims of mass shootings, this was the first time the firm had decided to take the case.

Matt Morgan said, “We believe this shooting is different because we think it may have been preventable,” WPTV reported.

From NTD.tv