AMU Emergency Management Original Public Safety

EDM Monday Briefing: Gunman Opens Fire at Jacksonville Florida Video Game Tournament

Emergency and disaster management briefing for August 27, 2018: A gunman opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday leaving 3 dead and 9 wounded, Hurricane Lane lost its punch but dropped a record rainfall on the Big Island of Hawaii, T-Mobile announced a data breach that compromised the personal information of 2 million of its customers, evacuations are still be ordered for the Crescent Mountain Fire burning in Washington State, the U.S. Air Force has announced the establishment of CROWS to defend its weapons systems against cyber-attacks, Indonesian officials announced a rise in the death toll after the major August 5 earthquake, two people in the DRC have recovered from Ebola after they received an experimental treatment, and an earthquake that struck West Iran yesterday has killed two and injured at least 130 additional people–some critically.

  1. A gunman opened fire at a video game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida on Sunday, [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/27/fbi-swarms-family-home-jacksonville-landing-gunman-david-katz.html” title=”killing two people, and wounding 11 others”], including two trying to flee from the scene, before turning his weapon on himself. The incident occurred at the Chicago Pizza restaurant and bar in Jacksonville Landing, when the suspect, David Katz, 24, who was [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/27/fbi-swarms-family-home-jacksonville-landing-gunman-david-katz.html” title=”allegedly upset at being eliminated from the tournament”], pulled out a gun and began shooting. According to authorities the suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, and [link url=”https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jacksonville-florida-mass-shooting-today-multiple-dead-including-suspect-jacksonville-landing-madden-19-tournament-live-updates/” title=”all those injured were listed in stable condition”] as of Sunday evening. Law enforcement officials are still trying to determine a motive for the shooting.  
  2. Hurricane Lane rapidly weakened and moved away from the Hawaiian Islands without making a direct hit, [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/08/26/storm-drifts-away-from-hawaii-after-almost-biblical-rains.html” title=”but not before it dropped a record 51.53 inches of rain on the Big Island through Sunday”]. The hurricane lost its powerful punch as it encountered a high pressure ridge when it neared the islands, but not before its outer bands were already dropping torrential rainfall across the Big Island, [link url=”https://abcnews.go.com/US/tropical-storm-lane-retreats-hawaii-leaves-45-inches/story?id=57409968″ title=”resulting in the rescue of nearly 40 people from their homes near Hilo”] as rivers raged through the area. The storm now holds third place in total rainfall amounts from any storm to strike in the United States since 1950. 
  3. T-Mobile announced that [link url=”http://time.com/money/5377773/tmobile-data-breach-august-2018/” title=”a data breach early last week resulted in hackers stealing the personal information of nearly 2 million customers”]. Information compromised during the breach likely included the name, phone number, billing zip code, email address, account number and account type (pre-paid or post-paid) of its customers. Officials from the company noted that financial information–including credit card numbers, social security numbers, and passwords–were not compromised, and they were able [link url=”https://www.wptv.com/news/national/2-million-customers-affected-in-t-mobile-data-breach” title=”to successfully shut down the breach”], then promptly notified authorities.  
  4. Evacuations are still being ordered for residents living near [link url=”http://fox28spokane.com/crescent-mountain-fire-over-40000-acres-still-34-percent-contained/” title=”the Crescent Mountain Fire that continues to burn in Washington State”]. The fire, which began on July 29 and was caused by lightning, remains only 24 percent contained, and weather will help decrease fire behavior over the next 12-24 hours, but deteriorating conditions will likely increase fire activity beyond 24 hours. [link url=”https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/incident/6093/” title=”The fire has already consumed nearly 43,000 acres”], is burning through upper and lower elevations of fir timber and shrub, and is being fought by 559 fire personnel.  
  5.  The United States Air Force (USAF) has established [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/08/24/air-force-preps-for-massive-cyberattacks-on-large-weapons-systems.html” title=”a new special unit to ramp up and aggressively defend itself”] from possible crippling wartime cyber attacks. The special unit will work to find and fix vulnerabilities to defend its stealth fighters, nuclear-armed missiles, air-launced weapons, and crucial combat networks. The USAF developed the Cyber Resilience Office for Weapons Systems (CROWS) as an acknowledgment that [link url=”http://www.foxnews.com/tech/2018/08/24/air-force-preps-for-massive-cyberattacks-on-large-weapons-systems.html” title=”more and more weapons systems are cyber-reliant and potentially at risk from hacking”].  
  6. The death toll from the major earthquake that struck the Lombok region of Indonesia on August 5 [link url=”https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/lombok-earthquake-death-toll-rises-555-180824083700478.html” title=”has now risen to 555, according to Indonesian officials”]. The 6.9 magnitude tremor also injured more than 1,300 people and left nearly 353,000 people internally displaced as the shallow quake leveled tens of thousands of homes, businesses, and mosques across the area. Officials stated that so far, 30,000 tents and 100 wheelchairs have been sent to affected areas, [link url=”https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/lombok-earthquake-death-toll-rises-555-180824083700478.html” title=”with more supplies still to be distributed”], but noted that although the quake caused some $348 million in damages, it does not qualify as a federal disaster. 
  7. As the Ebola outbreak continues in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), [link url=”https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/27/health/congo-ebola-outbreak-update-experimental-treatment-africa-intl/index.html” title=”two of the first sixteen people given an experimental treatment have recovered”]. The outbreak, which began in Mabalako, has spread to five health districts, including the North Kivu and Ituri provinces. The total number of reported cases as of August 25 stands at 111–[link url=”https://www.cnn.com/2018/08/27/health/congo-ebola-outbreak-update-experimental-treatment-africa-intl/index.html” title=”82 confirmed and 28 probable”]–including a total number of 72 deaths. Vaccinations have been widely distributed, with two experimental treatments already in use among a total of 5 experimental treatments set to be implemented. 
  8. A magnitude 6.0 earthquake struck in West Iran yesterday, [link url=”https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/iran-earthquake-killed-strong-tremors-rattle-kermanshah-180826055029102.html” title=”killing at least two and injuring another 310 people”], with a reported 6 people in critical condition. The quake struck about 16 miles southwest of the city of Javanrud, in the Kermanshah province, at a shallow depth of 6.2 miles. According to Iranian officials, [link url=”https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2018/08/iran-earthquake-killed-strong-tremors-rattle-kermanshah-180826055029102.html” title=”electricity has been cut off to some villages”], and drinking water supplies have been interrupted, likely due to infrastructure damages sustained during the quake.  
  9. https://twitter.com/corelionnews/status/1033574674393980928

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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