Alleged Jacksonville gunman David Katz suffered from depression at age 15 and received treatment, including four months at a wilderness camp for troubled teens and psychiatric medication, according to reports.
Katz’s trouble appears to have correlated with tension between his mother and father. They filed for divorce in 2005 and it was finalized in 2007, according to the Associated Press.
His parents disagreed on how to treat their son’s problems. Katz’s father allegedly believed his mother was exaggerating the problem so as to gain benefit during their custody battle. The Baltimore Sun reports that Katz was hospitalized for psychiatric treatment at one point and that he went on to graduate from Hammond High School in Howard County, Maryland, in 2011.
He enrolled at the University of Maryland “in September 2014 and majored in environmental science and technology.”
He won the Madden 17 Bills Championship at a tournament similar to the one held in Jacksonville on Sunday:
The ATF reports that Katz legally purchased two handguns in Baltimore during the month of August 2018, and those guns were in his possession when he reportedly opened fire in Jacksonville. Sheriff Michael Williams said Katz only shot one of the weapons.
The venue in which he opened fire was a gun-free zone, which meant his would-be victims were defenseless. Authorities say he killed two people and wounded nine others before taking his own life.
Police are still looking for a motive for the shooting.
AWR Hawkins is an award-winning Second Amendment columnist for Breitbart News, the host of the Breitbart podcast Bullets with AWR Hawkins, and the writer/curator of Down Range with AWR Hawkins, a weekly newsletter focused on all things Second Amendment, also for Breitbart News. He is the political analyst for Armed American Radio. Follow him on Twitter: @AWRHawkins. Reach him directly at awrhawkins@breitbart.com. Sign up to get Down Range at breitbart.com/downrange.