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A NUMBER OF people have been killed and others have been injured in a mass shooting in the US.
The sheriff’s office in Jacksonville, Florida is reporting “multiple fatalities” following the shooting at a riverfront shopping centre in the city.
It is reported that a gunman opened fire at a video game tournament at the shopping centre, and that the male suspect was a top player of NFL Madden, an American football video game.
The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office did not immediately confirm the number of dead, although authorities reported earlier that multiple people had been killed and many others had been transported to hospitals.
At a briefing at 4.30pm local time, Sheriff Mike Williams told reporters: “We have no outstanding suspects at this point. We will have more information at a full briefing in a few hours.”
Earlier, the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office told people to to “stay far away from the area”.
“We are finding many people hiding in locked areas at The Landing. We ask you to stay calm, stay where you are hiding. SWAT is doing a methodical search inside The Landing. We will get to you. Please don’t come running out,” the sheriff’s office said via Twitter.
The sheriff’s office didn’t provide any other information, but also warned news media to stay away from the area, which contains restaurants and shops along the St. Johns River.
With additional reporting from Associated Press.
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Guns are definitely not the issue.
@Yzo Sirrius: Arm the guns.
@Football in the Groin: lol
@Yzo Sirrius: guns aren’t shooting themselves. We all know the real problem.
@Yzo Sirrius: computer games are
@Veronica: feminists?
@Veronica: give it a rest
@Yzo Sirrius: how many mass shootings were committed by feminists? Or even by women for that matter?
Why so desperate to keep things as they are?
@Ohhh_reeally: Ya Madden NFL will do that to you!
@Veronica: What’s your solution?
@Veronica: Santa Barbara, two shooters, one was female.
@Mick Jordan: excellent. So that’s how many total female mass shooters in the US this year?
@Veronica: Don’t have one?
That’s because what you see as the problem isn’t the problem
@Veronica: you’re right, the guns aren’t shooting themselves. So instead of taking the guns away from the people, why don’t we take the people away from the guns- this way the guns can go about their day without people pulling their triggers until they shoot their load in people’s faces.
@Liam Byrne: You said it all In a nutshell.
@Veronica: Nasim Aghdam shot 3 people in YouTube’s headquarters! I don’t know if she was a feminist, she was a vegan and animal rights activist! She certainly suffered from toxic femininity!
@Veronica: Be. E Keith food distribution centre shooting, 2 dead, including the female shooter! Occurred on the 20th of August 2018 in Missouri City!
@David Irwin: keep going David, you just need to think of more than 2 females in 2018 out of 290 who committed mass shootings.
Acting as though women carrying out less than 1% of mass shootings this year is somehow proof that there is no pattern of male violence is an insult to everyone’s intelligence, especially your own.
Seriously, I’d love to know what about that argument feels like it’s clever to you, and the (presumably men) agreeing with you. Would appreciate it if anyone got back to me, I’m genuinely curious.
@Veronica: the only thing your curious about is eating muff
@Colm Lyons: calling me a lesbian is not an insult.
Hope the lads will out in force to call you a “disgusting” homophobe, and call you a woman hater and wonder whether you were abused as a child. Especially because you actually *are* a misogynist, one with a tiny imagination to boot. “Gaaaaay” is not exactly witticism of the year, is it.
@Veronica: I didn’t intend to insult you. You however…. Have a nice day
@Colm Lyons: no? You just go around telling women that they think about performing sexual acts on people because you think it’s an intelligent contribution?
@Veronica: that’s it exactly. You on the other hand suggested I was abused as a child. Well done for your equally intelligent contribution.
@Veronica: I’m not arguing with you and I’m not trying to be clever! You commented that “we all know the real problem” alleging that men are the problem! You then commented how many mass shootings were committed by feminists “or even by women for that matter?”, I was merely answering your query! The fact remains that women are equally capable of carrying out acts of extreme violence!! You cannot deny this
More thoughts and prayers no doubt with calls not to use a tragedy to promote gun control. But there’s never a right time to talk about gun control because before the “appropriate” amount of time has passed,there’s another incident,more thoughts and prayers,more calls not to use a tragedy to promote gun control and round and round they go while gun sales increase every time this happens.
@Tom Thumb: ‘Cold dead hand? Did he say cold dead hand?
OK …
So be it’
@Tom Thumb: i don’t think Americans should ever give up their guns. Criminals will always have them then the only answer to that is a police state (which many say is the true agenda). They’re in this mess now and it is what it is, just try manage it better with better detection. The alternative is far worse.
@Jim Ni Suilleabhain: The alternative that’s far worse than children gunned down in schools is what exactly? Most practical with less guns per capita have less murders. Fact.
@Jim Ni Suilleabhain: Yes Jim their in this mess now and “it is what it is”
The “is what it is” is around 11,500 shot dead every year in the US. This doesn’t included those maimed, crippled, brain dead but alive etc after such shootings. Now 11,500 is a lot of bodies, or it’s around six 9/11 each year, year after year, after year. As you say some mess.
@Jim Ni Suilleabhain: “It is what it is” wow, the depth of human feeling and empathy you have is astounding, I’m welling up over here! They should say that at every funeral. I’d add a shrug of the shoulders just for effect
@Jim Ni Suilleabhain: that could be right in some settings. It is probably a deterrent for burglary, specially in the countryside.
Woman on CNN intimates that it was because some guy lost a computer game…. Can’t help but think this could be avoided if it was more difficult for him to have gotten a gun
@thomas patrick: can’t blame him, shit be annoying
@thomas patrick: bloody computer games.
I think it is way past the time of redemption for a society that loves guns more than people. What a horrible tragedy for those innocent victims.
And again :-(
What are the odds people will attempt to connect this incident with video game violence.
@Gerald OBrien: That was 90s hysteria resulting from events like Columbine and the Jamie Bulger murder. It settled down a long time ago.
@Gerald OBrien: Seeing as it was a madden tournament (NFL video games) then they’d be pretty daft to even start down that route.
@I’m not wavy gravy: some American politicians still wheel it out, I think the NRA still try to push that angle too
@Gerald OBrien: yeah. American football games so rife with guns
@Dave O Keeffe: Sounds like a handy way of weeding out people you shouldn’t listen to!
Will Orangina come out and call out the joke that is the governance around gun control in the US? (How many time does this need to happen!) Nope, and I’ll tell you why – the lobbying power and influence of the NRA is inconceivable. Time to tackle the elephant in the room. We will see the usual “sincere condolences” nonsense on Twitter from the oompa loompa…not good enough.
@Murph: Trump is a clown but to be fair Obama also did nothing for gun control
@Fergus Sheahan: He did but it was blocked by Republicans in the Senate. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/president-obama-blasts-senate-failed-votes-gun-control/story?id=40017828
@Fergus Sheahan: Trump is promoting guns, Obama campaigned for more controls. I was wondering what sort of spoon would make such a statement and I can’t work it out. Do enlighten me.
The most disturbing thing is that this doesn’t shock people anymore.
Jesus my 13 year old son keep kicked my butt in Fantasy Football this week. Not once did I wish I had a gun to go out and open fire on other potential Fantasy Football players. Of course, the fact that I wouldn’t know how to get a gun is neither here nor there…
What a shock
Who needs please when we’ve got guns?
Time to ban EA Sports
@Adrian O’Donnell: yep, that’s the inciteful commentary that’ll come out of this
More guns needed to defeat this war on guns.
The banned kinder surprise eggs and non pasteurised cheese, or in other words – cheese. IS THAT CHEESE? RAT-A-TAT-TAT pew pew pew. Murica!!
I urge you guys and all Irish media to please; NOT NAME THE PERPETRATOR.
They all say it. “I want to be more famous than columbine!”.
Well, who makes them famous?
My thoughts go out to the victims and their families
@ContactWasAGreatFilm: his name is David Katz
Will it be blamed on the game itself or on gamers as a community?
#lifematters
As long as America has a frontier seige mentality coupled with gangsta ‘respec’ killings, thus will never stop. None of our business anyway
@Kevin Slater: it’s all our business, while we don’t have the same access to guns culture is boundless in the modern age.
@*The* Brendan Gordon: no it’s not our business
Ah I thought it was a little overdue for the August shooting, wonder what date the September one is scheduled for? Paddy Power should do bets!
We go round and round again, the fact it’s so damn easy for anyone to get a kill that can kill loads of innocent people is the problem, lose a game over here at tournament what r u gonna do throw a punch/chair??? lose in gun tottin USA and take out your glock/m16 and mow down a dozen????? That’s the diff the access to guns that’s why they have more mass shootings than rest of world put together!!! If that’s not it then they just b all nuts and unbalanced which brings us around again why give them guns???
At this stage with the sheer amount of guns owned by american citizens it would probably be impossible to implement proper gun control like we have here in Ireland, maybe there could be a law that you cannot possess a gun within a certain distance of schools or urban centers and have more police checkpoints, maybe even licencing where you need to do training and a competency test to get said licence.
More guns! Yayy!
Where’s the guys accusing religious brown people of this awful crime?
I mean IS claimed the Las Vegas guy according to the news and nut jobs were all over it like flies on shite. And that turned out to be…
Ah well ….
Maybe someone shut down their accounts.
The issue here is obviously video games and how they are so widely accessible
These killings in the US get all the media attention. The President comes out and says how awful it is. And does nothing. That will now include Trump, as it did Obama. The rhetoric might be different, but the end effect is the same. The other killings that get all the coverage are black kids shot by police. Even though most people shot by police are not black, and these two types of homicides combined make up a small percentage of the overall total.
It is rumble-tumble killings that make up the vast majority. Situations that should not lead to murder. In a majority of cases, an African-American male aged 15 to 40 kills the same. It has gotten “way out of whack”, to quote Obama. But as long as the focus is away from that, nothing will change.
@Dave Slater: Obama didn’t have both houses behind him. Trump does.
There is no comparison.
Trump can push the agenda…But you know that.
The rest of your statement deliberately ignores gun availability in the US and suggests that if law enforcement crack down on a particular ethnic community all will be good.
That’s mediocre racist rubbish and I’m embarrassed for you, your friends and your family that you felt you had to publish such drivel on a site viewed by tens of thousands of people per day.
Of course, you might not be a real called David Slater….yawn.
@Danny Rafferty: Republicans have the houses and they’re pro-guns (mostly), so Trump cannot push the agenda. There is a comparison because as Dave said the rhetoric will change but not the outcome.
On to the next paragraph of utter tripe where you accuse the above commentor of racism and deliberate omission. Not sure how you can say it was deliberate unless you said it yourself. Dave makes no reference to police targeting a particular ethnic group being the solution – ZERO.
You’re the exact problem with the Internet, read a comment, miss the point completely, make up what you wanted to hear and respond to that by calling someone racist so you look cool.
I’m embarrassed for you, not your friends or family though. They’re hardly to blame for your words or actions.
@Dave Slater: More whites in the US = more white kids shot by police..Oh wait,do the police shoot young white kids at the same rate that they do to black kids ? Actually,i don’t even know the answer to that one myself ..
The issue here is obviously video games…
So this happened over a sports video game and not a first person shooter like Counter Strike, Call of Duty or Battlefield. Interesting.
be nice to see a referendum on that rubbish….
The issue here is obviously video games and how they are so widely accessible
@Neil Cash: say again
The issue here is obviously video games…
have your say