0:00
mental health can affect anyone in
0:02
powerful and sometimes severe ways but
0:05
how much of this can be used to explain
0:06
the terrible actions of David Katz it
0:09
was in August of 2018 that he would do
0:11
the unthinkable and attempt to end the
0:13
lives of a dozen other Gamers but what
0:16
was the motive behind his actions what
0:18
struggles did David conceal from others
0:20
and what lay behind his terrible history
0:24
this case is eye-opening to say the
0:26
least it contains a myriad of red flags
0:28
and concerning Clues which all led to
0:30
tragedy and argues the importance of
0:32
mental health and how to deal with it
0:34
hey there folks and welcome back to
0:36
another video by coffeehouse crime my
0:38
name is Adrian and today we're looking
0:40
at the case of David Katz and just to
0:42
let you know before we begin but I post
0:44
True Crime and strange cases here weekly
0:46
so if that's your sort of thing please
0:48
consider subscribing to coffeehouse
0:49
crime so grab yourself a coffee buckle
0:52
up and get ready for the Deep dive this
0:54
is the case of David Katz
0:56
[Music]
0:57
thank you
0:59
[Music]
Baltimore
1:08
welcome back to America folks today
1:10
we're zoning in on the state of Maryland
1:12
and more specifically the state of
1:14
Baltimore
1:15
hard to believe but in 1752 Baltimore
1:18
had just 27 homes a church and two
1:21
taverns but fast forward a little over
1:23
270 years and it now holds a population
1:26
of roughly 600 000 residents once a
1:30
predominantly industrial town with an
1:31
economic base focused on steel
1:33
processing shipping and auto
1:34
manufacturing the city now relies on a
1:36
low wage service economy which accounts
1:38
for 31 of jobs in the city nowadays
1:42
shipping cargo and tourism are
1:43
significant players in Baltimore's
1:45
economy and roughly 53 billion dollars
1:47
of cargo moved through its shipping
1:48
ports every year and as for tourism
1:51
Baltimore's Rich history makes this a
1:53
popular destination for tourists with
1:55
more than 25 million visitors per year
1:57
however there's a disturbing side to
2:00
Baltimore too some of you may know it
2:02
for leaking Park an area Infamous for
2:04
finding dead bodies and in fact since
2:07
1946 a total of 79 bodies have been
2:10
found around its grounds most of these
2:12
were from one-off homicides however some
2:15
of the bodies were from the Spree killer
2:16
Reginald oats now Lincoln Park also
2:19
borders on some of Baltimore's roughest
2:21
neighborhoods which probably strongly
2:23
influences the number of homicides in
2:25
the area but today's story doesn't begin
2:27
or end in a place of poverty and in fact
2:30
it's actually quite the opposite miles
David Katz' history
2:32
away from the cold and dangerous streets
2:34
around Lincoln Park we find the cat's
2:36
family comprising of Mother Elizabeth
2:38
father Richards and their two sons
2:40
Brandon and David their oldest son
2:43
Brandon was born in March of 1990 and as
2:45
younger brother David followed suit
2:47
almost four years later born on December
2:50
22nd 1993 David entered this world into
2:53
an affluent and highly educated family
2:55
his father Richard was a NASA engineer
2:58
and his mother Elizabeth was a
2:59
toxicologist for the FDA also known as
3:02
the U.S Food and Drug Administration and
3:04
just a heads up but this fact becomes
3:07
extremely vital to our story later
3:09
despite their promising beginning
3:11
Brandon's and David's childhoods were
3:13
Rocky to say the least it was in the
3:15
year to 2006 when David is only 12 years
3:18
old that his parents decided to divorce
3:20
understandably this devastated both him
3:22
and his brother Brandon and moving
3:24
forward the two split their time between
3:26
their parents the brothers attended
3:28
Hammond High School in Colombia found
3:30
Southwest of Baltimore and while here
3:33
classmates recognized David as a shy and
3:35
sometimes anti-social kid he stuck to
3:38
himself was quiet and was heavily into
3:40
video games and that final point is
3:42
rather crucial to highlights as moving
3:45
forward David spent most of his time in
3:47
his room playing competitive Sports
3:48
video games namely Madden NFL the Madden
3:52
series is an American football video
3:53
game based on the Nation Football League
3:55
developed by EA Sports and with this
3:58
game being Madden a new addition of the
4:00
game comes out every year David
4:03
graduated from Hammond High School in
4:05
2011 and fast forward three years to
4:07
2014. he enrolled in the University of
4:09
Maryland to major in Environmental
4:11
Science and Technology but David wasn't
4:14
necessarily interested in education or
4:16
work and instead he dived deeper into
4:18
the world of the internet spending all
4:20
of his time on video games his
4:22
dedication eventually paid off and he
4:24
became very good at playing Madden and
4:25
by June of 2016 he started competing in
4:28
professional competitive games against
4:29
other players taking the gaming name
4:32
bread sliced bread or Raven's champ he
4:34
joined the Buffalo Bills Madden 17
4:35
Series championship and eventually won
4:38
initially seen as an underdog and the
4:41
seventh seed David began to turn heads
4:42
when he annihilated his opponents in
4:44
game and gained further attention with
4:46
his cocky interviews you came in here
Entering the spotlight
4:48
today traveled up from Maryland and now
4:51
you get a chance to go into the
4:52
semifinals you feel you have to feel
4:54
pretty good about it he came in as a
4:55
seven seed he just knocked off the two
4:57
seat and he did pretty convincingly
4:59
um yeah I don't think of myself as a
5:01
seven seed I think personally I'm one of
5:03
the better players
5:04
um and I like to let my game prove that
5:05
right Dave congratulations we'll see in
5:09
the next round and guys Larry Zach will
5:10
go back upstairs to you guys this
5:12
appeared to be David's lucky weekend he
5:14
went on to win the Buffalo Bills Madden
5:16
Championship Landing him a cool ten
5:18
thousand dollars in the processarilities
5:27
oh my goodness touchdown the young man
5:31
from Columbia Maryland the last play of
5:34
the game and he gets it done gets a
5:37
touchdown alone how's it going there I
5:41
am speechless and that is the ball game
5:43
well along with the money that you're
5:45
getting we're also we've got something
5:46
else for you in the club series
5:48
your Madden Jersey there you go way to
5:51
go bread coming out on top of the
5:53
championship
5:54
number seven seed taking out the number
5:56
one seed in the final congratulations
5:58
Larry Zach up to you can what a day in
6:01
Buffalo
6:02
and although he wouldn't win the next
6:04
one in April of 2017 David Katz went on
6:07
to represent the Buffalo Bills at the
6:09
Madden 17 Club Series championship which
6:11
is a very prestigious Duty for a gamer
6:13
no matter how you view it
6:15
David Katz was in a very exciting moment
6:17
of his life and despite falling back on
6:20
his education he was making great wins
6:22
making good money and earning a good
6:24
reputation in his hobby now it's every
6:26
Gamer's dream to make a career out of
6:28
video games but despite his Rising Fame
6:30
there were many challenging aspects to
6:32
David's life and many of them stemmed
6:34
back to his early childhood police
A complex history with mental health...
6:36
records show that between 1993 and 2009
6:40
the first 16 years of David's life 26
6:42
calls were made to the police from his
6:44
family home no one is entirely sure what
6:47
these calls were for but the vast
6:48
majority are categorized under domestic
6:50
disputes and mental illness and many of
6:53
these calls were during the time David
6:54
was just a child and this is probably
6:57
the best time to address David's mental
6:59
health because it was really not good
7:01
David was known to have a myriad of
7:03
mental health issues starting at the age
7:05
of nine by the time David was 12 years
7:08
old he'd seen multiple psychiatrists and
7:10
had been prescribed several psychiatric
7:12
drugs including antipsychotics and
7:14
antidepressants now this was one of the
7:17
many reasons David's parents had
7:18
divorced as the two constantly argued
7:20
about what was best for their children
7:22
Richard claimed that Elizabeth a
7:24
toxicologist for the FDA was obsessed
7:27
with using mental health professionals
7:28
and psychiatric drugs to perform the
7:30
work that parents should naturally do
7:32
and whether Richard's claims were valid
7:35
or not there is no denying that David
7:37
was on strong medication from an
7:39
extremely young age and his mental
7:41
health seemed to be very problematic
7:42
throughout his teenage years despite his
7:45
father's concerns David was prescribed
7:47
Abilify an antipsychotic drug primarily
7:50
used to treat schizophrenia and bipolar
7:52
disorder he was also prescribed Prozac
7:55
an antidepressant under the SSRI
7:57
umbrella and to add to this there are
7:59
also unconformed reports to say that he
8:01
was prescribed another antidepressant
8:03
called Lexapro after allegedly
8:06
experiencing a psychiatric crisis
8:07
Elizabeth took Dave to see a range of
8:09
therapists psychiatrists and social
8:11
workers and in one instance David had to
8:14
be handcuffed by police after locking
8:16
himself in his mother's car to avoid
8:18
going to a mental health appointment
8:19
with her David's story gets worse and
8:22
worse in 2007 and at the age of 14 David
8:26
was admitted to Shepard Pratt
8:28
psychiatric hospital where he was
8:30
administered a higher dosage of
8:31
antidepressants this was only one of
8:34
four known care facilities that David
8:36
attended around the same year and since
8:38
then one of them has recently been under
8:40
investigation for sexual abuse of their
8:42
adolescent patients
8:44
by now David's parents are divorced and
8:46
he was splitting his time between his
8:48
mothers and his father's homes saying
8:50
that he did have a favorite parent and
8:52
he clearly hated spending any time with
8:54
his mother she had twice packed all of
8:56
his clothes into a suitcase and told him
8:58
to get out of the house and one of those
9:00
occasions was on Mother's Day in 2007.
9:03
David was also enrolled into a
9:05
Wilderness treatment program for
9:07
troubled teenagers for several months
9:08
and allegedly his mother had enrolled
9:11
him into the facility without first
9:12
securing permission from the court on
9:15
December 22nd 2009 David wrote a letter
9:18
to the judge reviewing his own parents
9:20
ongoing custody battle and in this
9:22
letter he said dear judge today is my
9:25
birthday and I'm turning 16 years old I
9:28
live with my mum and have been wanting
9:30
to live with my dad my mum is pretty
9:32
crazy she called the police on me about
9:34
20 times for pretty much nothing like
9:36
coming home a little late or something
9:38
shelter gets drunk and starts yelling at
9:41
me and poking me and doesn't leave me
9:43
alone she has hit me before and always
9:45
takes my stuff because she feels like it
9:47
she is twice sent me to Mental Hospitals
9:50
and wants to a Wilderness Therapy
9:51
Program for no significant reason I also
9:54
can never talk to her because I hate her
9:56
more than anything in the world and she
9:58
would probably yell at me she also lies
10:00
a lot as David reached adulthood the
10:03
frequency in which he sought medical
10:04
attention dropped quite drastically
10:06
whether this was because he had control
10:08
over his own life or not we don't
10:10
actually know but concerning signs still
10:13
existed throughout his day-to-day
10:14
schedule David would go days without
10:16
bathing he often played video games such
10:19
as Madden until 4am on school nights and
10:21
he often walked around the house in
10:23
circles
10:24
to add to this David was further
10:26
diagnosed with dysthymia which is a
10:28
persistent depressive disorder to make
10:30
this more relatable it's basically a
10:32
major depressive disorder but with
10:33
longer lasting symptoms and in
10:35
conjunction with this he was also
10:37
diagnosed with Oppositional Defiant
10:39
Disorder odd is defined as a pattern of
10:42
angry and irritable moods coupled with
10:44
argumentative and defined Behavior this
10:46
behavior is usually targeted towards
10:48
peers teachers authority figures and of
10:51
course in this case parents moving
Left unchecked.
10:54
forward David withdrew himself from the
10:56
rest of the Real Worlds he spent almost
10:58
all of his time online had almost no
11:00
physical friends and began to fail at
11:02
school by the time he was competing in
11:04
Madden tournaments he was living alone
11:06
in a condo in Baltimore and although he
11:08
was enrolled in University he wasn't
11:10
actually registered for any classes that
11:12
year David had earned the reputation as
11:14
a strong professional Madden player but
11:17
many other players saw him as socially
11:18
awkward strange and rude as seen in many
11:22
of his Clips he never made eye contact
11:23
with other player players and and would
11:25
often refuse to shake their hands after
11:27
a win or a loss
11:29
you are not gonna see much emotion from
11:32
our guy bread this dude is a man David
11:35
catch keeps to himself he's a man of
11:37
business he's not here for the
11:39
experience and to go out this that in
11:41
the third he's not here to make friends
11:43
he's all business he's focused and to
11:46
even get him to open up to talk to you
11:48
about anything it's it's like pulling
11:50
teeth man
11:51
now David was clearly an awkward guy and
11:54
although some people knew of his
11:55
aggressive behavioral issues no one was
11:58
very apprehensive about being in his
12:00
presence but in August of 2018 that
12:03
would all change and excluding those
12:05
that lost their lives he would forever
12:07
change the lives of dozens of people
12:09
forever
12:12
foreign
August 26th, 2018
12:17
August 26 2018
12:20
the time was 1 30 PM it was a Sunday and
12:24
Florida was enjoying another laid-back
12:25
weekend in the humid heat families were
12:28
taken to the malls to keep cool While
12:30
others remained in their homes under
12:31
their aircon
12:33
and roughly 150 of those in the city of
12:35
Jacksonville were spending their weekend
12:37
at the good luck have fun gaming bar
12:39
located in the Jacksonville Landing
12:40
indoor marketplace a Madden NFL 19
12:43
tournament was being hosted here and
12:45
many of those who were particularly good
12:47
at the game had been invited and of
12:49
course this included bread also known as
12:52
David Katz the event had spanned over
12:54
the weekend beginning on Saturday with
12:56
the finals scheduled to take place on
12:58
the Sunday evening David had comfortably
13:00
made his way through several wins on
13:02
Saturday but now Sunday was here the
13:04
games were getting more serious and much
13:06
more harder now unfortunately luck was
13:09
not on his side today as shortly before
13:11
1pm David Katz was knocked out of the
13:14
tournament by his opponent Elijah
13:16
Clayton David was Furious and refused to
13:19
shake Elijah's hand after being knocked
13:21
out and this wasn't just because he was
13:23
defeated by him but because David and
13:25
nalaya had a very long and toxic history
13:27
now Elijah often picked on David for a
13:30
social awkwardness and seemed to
13:32
intentionally jeopardize David's work
13:34
whenever possible in fact David had
13:36
recently authored a book to teach others
13:38
how to get better at Madden and after
13:40
releasing this book Elijah posted it
13:42
online for everyone to read without
13:43
buying in a recent tournament Elijah and
13:46
David ordered a taxi back to the airport
13:48
but when the cab arrived Elijah slammed
13:50
the door on David's face and then left
13:52
without him and now after all of this
13:55
bad blood David had been knocked out of
13:57
the tournament by the man he despised
13:59
and the consequences would be both
14:01
irrational and severe got a lot of good
14:03
games
14:08
now
14:16
after storming out of the good luck have
14:19
fun bar David headed around Chicago
14:20
Pizza while there he took his sunglasses
14:23
off and left them on the side of the
14:25
table before reaching into his Baltimore
14:26
Ravens backpack storming back into the
14:29
bar he took position near the other
14:31
players pulled out a 45 caliber handgun
14:33
from his bag and dropped the bag on the
14:35
floor the tournament was still in full
14:37
swing with several players in the middle
14:39
of the match and to add to this the
14:42
entire thing was being live streamed on
14:43
Twitch and several other platforms David
14:46
aimed his gun at Elijah Clayton and it
14:48
just so happened that the live stream
14:50
camera was focused on him this very
14:52
moment just seconds before being shot
14:54
the laser sight on David's Gun can be
14:56
seen hovering over his chest and just as
14:59
the camera pans back to the game David
15:01
pulled the trigger
15:03
Elijah was shot in the chest forehead
15:05
and right eye three times killing him
15:07
instantly in his chair David then turned
15:10
on to 12 other victims which included 27
15:13
year old Taylor Robertson Taylor was
15:15
shot from behind as he ran away sadly he
15:18
was killed in the process and just 20
15:20
seconds after firing his first shot
15:22
David turned the gun on himself ten
15:24
others had been shot before David took
15:26
his own life with an 11th victim
15:28
injuring himself from running away and
15:30
all of this had been captured live on
15:32
stream it seems that David's motive was
15:34
made out of Rage Elijah had long
15:37
frustrated him and after losing to him
15:39
he couldn't handle it anymore couple
15:41
this with odd amongst other issues and
15:44
it seems fairly likely but this doesn't
15:46
explain why he purchased two guns
15:48
shortly before the tournaments or why he
15:51
bought them with him so perhaps there
15:52
was some sort of premeditation involved
15:54
gunfire was first reported on social
15:56
media at 1 34 pm and only two minutes
15:59
later First Responders arrived at the
16:01
bar and what they found was a crime
16:04
scene full of Terror the firefighters
16:06
Union had been training in the area when
16:08
victims had run up to them for help they
16:10
could help secure the scene very quickly
16:12
with the assistance of officers and due
16:14
to the bar's location the Coast Guard
16:16
was also called in to sweep the
16:18
surrounding waterways authorities were
16:20
able to storm the main room of the good
16:22
luck have fun bar around 40 minutes
16:24
after the attack and there they found
16:26
David Elijah and Taylor dead at the
16:28
scene David's body count could have been
16:30
much higher but thankfully 10 of his 12
16:33
victims survived the attack even still
Taylor Robertson & Elijah Clayton
16:36
two innocent lives had been lost in the
16:38
process and now two families along with
16:41
countless friends and fans would now
16:43
have to grieve for their loss Taylor
16:45
Robertson also known as spot me please
16:47
was born on November 26 1990. he was a
16:51
professional NFL player from Bullard
16:53
West Virginia Taylor was a 2009 graduate
16:56
of James Monroe High School was a
16:58
standout athlete at school and athlete
17:01
of the year in a senior year he was also
17:03
an accountant and credit analyst working
17:05
for First Community Bank Elijah Clayton
17:08
also known as true boy was born on June
17:10
19 1996. he too was a professional
17:14
player from Woodlands Hill California he
17:16
attended Calabasas high school and
17:18
played for their football team in his
17:19
younger years tragically he decided to
17:22
attend the event very last minute as up
17:24
until the day before he had no plans to
Modern Technology
17:27
go Bringing modern technology to the
17:29
discussion but one aspect of the
17:31
investigation that I found to be very
17:33
fascinating was Jacksonville Police
17:34
Department's 3D modeling this video was
17:37
created using thousands of images
17:39
stitched together to accurately portray
17:41
a virtual model of the crime scene after
17:43
entering the building and then panning
17:45
around the pizza restaurant you can see
17:47
the area in which David had taken his
17:49
own life to the left and down the
17:51
hallway is where he had previously shot
17:53
Elijah sadly this model captures how
17:56
chaotic the scene was after with David
17:58
Katz dead there would obviously be no
Mental health and development
18:00
trial or Court proceedings for the
18:02
individual but many lawsuits erupted in
18:04
the wake of his destructive path the
18:06
aftermath of this story is unfortunately
18:08
very messy and confusing as nobody
18:10
actually knew about David's mental
18:12
health issues until after it was all too
18:14
late and of course many questions
18:16
followed it turns out that despite all
18:19
of his former mental health problems
18:20
David had legally purchased a couple of
18:22
handguns just two weeks before the
18:24
shooting from a shop in Maryland and
18:26
that was just the tip of the iceberg
18:28
because what followed was the revelation
18:30
of his long and complicated history with
18:32
antipsychotics antidepressants and his
18:35
mother
18:36
summarizing what we discussed earlier
18:38
but David had been diagnosed with the
18:40
themia and oppositional disorder was
18:42
previously on a wide range of
18:44
antidepressants and antipsychotics had
18:46
witnessed a traumatic divorce between
18:48
his parents had a very problematic
18:50
relationship with his mother and had
18:52
attended more than several mental health
18:53
institutions and arguably but one of the
18:56
most concerning details is how young
18:58
David was when he began to take
19:00
antidepressants and antipsychotics he
19:03
was only 13 at the time which was a time
19:05
when he had a lot of physical and mental
19:07
development ahead of him the use of
19:10
antidepressants is not usually
19:11
recommended in children and young people
19:13
under the age of 18. and there are
19:15
dozens of studies that even argue
19:17
adverse effects on patients between 18
19:19
to 24 years old David was 5 and 11 years
19:22
younger than these recommendations
19:24
respectively and it's essential to
19:26
address the bias in his life too David's
19:28
mother was a toxicologist working for
19:30
the U.S Food and Drug Administration and
19:33
to add to this she was a strong advocate
19:34
for the use of antidepressants and anti
19:36
psychotics now this isn't necessarily a
19:40
wrong opinion to have but arguably her
19:42
strong bias led her to enforce the use
19:44
of drugs on her son when he didn't
19:46
necessarily need them bearing in mind
19:48
that David's father was firmly against
19:50
the use of drugs and even argued that
19:52
therapy would have been a much safer
19:54
method several other red flags come to
19:57
mind too we can't forget that Elizabeth
19:59
enrolled her son in healthcare
20:00
facilities without first securing
20:02
permission of the court and in addition
20:04
to this she denied David's father
20:06
visitation rights to add to this was
20:08
David's letter to the judge which was a
20:10
cry for help David believed that his
20:12
mother was abusive a liar and often
20:14
unnecessarily called the police on him
20:16
and while exaggeration may be at play to
20:18
David's letter there is likely some form
20:21
of truth behind it now honestly I wish I
20:24
could stop there but I think the next
20:26
part of this story is what surprised me
20:28
the most in October 2004 the FDA which
20:32
is Elizabeth's employer ordered a black
20:34
box warning for SSRI antidepressants for
20:36
anyone under the age of 18 because of
20:38
the risk it brings to Suicidal Thoughts
20:40
just two years later when David was 13
20:42
years old he was prescribed Lexapro
20:44
which was listed as an antidepressant
20:46
under the fda's Black Box warning all of
20:49
this information is publicly available
20:50
through the cat's family court records
20:52
and it appears that Elizabeth knew
20:54
exactly what David was being prescribed
20:56
honestly this whole situation sounds
20:58
[ __ ] now there is no justification for
21:01
David's actions and nobody knew what he
21:03
was capable of doing in Jacksonville but
21:05
mental health is likely one of the most
21:07
prudent areas to better understand in
21:09
the judicial system there is
21:11
potentiality that all of this
21:12
interference during David's childhood
21:14
may have strongly influenced the actions
21:16
that he committed in August of 2018.
21:18
following the Jacksonville Landing
Legal proceedings and aftermath
21:20
shooting more than 50 lawsuits were
21:22
filed assigning blame for the deaths
21:24
wounds and traumas the 10 people who
21:26
were shot and injured all reported a mix
21:28
of physical and emotional damage and
21:30
many asked why and how such a tragedy
21:32
was allowed to happen Electronic Arts
21:35
the companies that manage Jacksonville
21:37
Landing and provided security owners of
21:39
Chicago Pizza the owners of good luck
21:41
have fun bar and even the website
21:43
operator where Gamers had to register to
21:45
compete have all been sued in front of
21:47
nine separate Circuit Court judges
21:49
personal injury lawyers have argued that
21:51
security procedures used at other events
21:54
such as concerts and football matches
21:55
make patrons pass through metal
21:57
detectors which would have been enough
21:59
to stop David from committing his
22:00
terrible actions according to court
22:02
documents and the crime scene photos
22:04
David had been carrying one firearm in
22:07
his waistband and another in his
22:09
backpack it has also been questioned why
22:11
David was able to purchase two Firearms
22:13
with such a history but no matter which
22:16
way you look at it or whom you blame the
22:18
results are all the same two lives were
22:20
lost and many more were scarred and
22:23
Elijah Clayton and Taylor Robertson paid
22:25
the ultimate price for a long and
22:27
complex relationship between David and
22:29
his mental health it feels strange to
22:31
say this over gaming but both men died
22:34
doing what they loved they were
22:35
Professionals in their fields and had
22:37
much more going on in their lives and
22:40
for their deaths to be so early abrupt
22:42
and caught on live stream is tragic I
22:44
hope their families and friends find
22:46
peace in the future
Outro
22:53
hi there folks and thank you so much for
22:55
watching another video today by Coffee
22:57
House crime thank you so much for making
22:59
it this far and if you'd like to watch
23:00
more videos by me then you know what to
23:02
do now please be sure to leave your
23:04
thoughts on this case down below like
23:06
And subscribe to support the channel and
23:08
I'll see you again very soon for another
23:10
video but until we see each other again
23:12
please remember to look after each other
23:13
and stay safe thank you and goodbye
23:17
foreign
23:20
[Music]