JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - An Atlanta man who traveled to Jacksonville for the Madden video game tournament in August is opening up for the first time about the mass shooting at the Jacksonville Landing and the weeks that followed.
Reginald Brown told First Coast News he was the one who defeated the shooter, David Katz, just before the shooting began.
“That was my first time ever interacting with him,” Brown said. “And so, he didn’t say much of anything in that game. And then, you know, at the end of the game when I said ‘good game’ to him he didn’t say anything back.”
Brown said after the game, a tournament director told him to get Katz to come back and report the score. Brown noticed Katz walking “aggressively” through the crowd to get to the director. Five-to-10 minutes later, the shooting began.
“He didn’t come into the actual room,” Brown said. “He stood inside of the doorway and was firing shots from there.”
Brown said he didn’t know the man he had just played against was the gunman until after he escaped the building. Brown's call to 911 after the shooting was one of several released by JSO earlier this week.
“Even thinking about it now I still get chills, just thinking about that,” Brown said. “Because I think to myself that that could easily…I could have easily been the first victim.”
That’s not the only “what if” Brown thinks about. He also wonders whether he could have said anything to avert the shooting spree that left two fellow gamers dead.
“That could have easily been my opportunity to maybe say something that could have changed his mind,” Brown said. “I really do wish I had that opportunity to maybe talk him off the ledge, so to speak.”
Brown told First Coast News the first days following the shooting were dark. He was startled by innocent noises, like his daughter coughing, and felt survivor's remorse.
Brown knew both victims, Elijah Clayton and Taylor Robertson for years. He and Robertson bonded because they were both husbands and fathers.
“We always had that connection where we would talk about our families all the time,” Brown said.
After days of darkness, Brown said one day he woke up happy and filled with gratitude. Now, he appreciates the little things and is devoting time to helping the families his friends leave behind.
“Know that [Clayton and Robertson] were two really great guys, that they didn’t deserve to lose their lives,” Brown said. “But they lost their lives doing something that they truly, truly loved.”