In a farewell to the American public, the late U.S. Sen. John McCain warned that “tribal” politics weaken America’s greatness and standing in the world.

He also expressed optimism in the American people’s ability to work together for the common good.

Rick Davis, McCain’s former campaign manager, read the senator’s final letter during a news conference with reporters Monday morning. It was the first time McCain’s last words had been shared publicly.

SENATOR’S BIOGRAPHY:  John McCain’s American Story

In the letter, McCain praised America’s role in liberating “more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history.”

He said the country’s standing and ideals are threatened “when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries … We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down.”

But he ended his letter on an optimistic note, saying Americans will get through the challenges facing the country by working together.

“We have always had so much more in common than in disagreement,” McCain wrote.

Read John McCain’s full farewell letter:

My fellow Americans, whom I have gratefully served for 60 years, and especially my fellow Arizonans, 

Thank you for the privilege of serving you and for the rewarding life of service in uniform and service in public office has allowed me to lead. I have tried to serve our country honorably. I have made mistakes, but I hope my love for America will be weighed favorably against them.

I’ve often observed that I’m the luckiest person on earth. I feel that way even now as I prepare for the end of my life. I’ve loved my life, all of it. I’ve had experiences, adventures, friendships enough for 10 satisfying lives, and I am so thankful. Like most people, I have regrets. But I would not trade a day of my life, in good or bad times, for the best day of anybody else’s.

I owe this satisfaction to the love of my family. No man ever had a more loving wife or children he was prouder of than I am of mine. And I owe it to America. To be connected to America’s causes — liberty, equal justice, respect for the dignity of all people — brings happiness more sublime than life’s fleeting pleasures. Our identities and sense of worth are not circumscribed but enlarged by serving good causes bigger than ourselves.

‘Fellow Americans’ — that association has meant more to me than any other. I lived and died a proud American. We are citizens of the world’s greatest republic, a nation of ideals, not blood and soil. We are blessed and are a blessing to humanity when we uphold and advance those ideals at home and in the world. We have helped liberate more people from tyranny and poverty than ever before in history. We have acquired great wealth and great power in the process.

We weaken our greatness when we confuse our patriotism with tribal rivalries that have sown resentment and hatred and violence in all the corners of the globe. We weaken it when we hide behind walls rather than tear them down, when we doubt the power of our ideals, rather than trust them to be the great force for change they’ve always been.

We are 325 million opinionated, vociferous individuals. We argue and compete and sometimes even vilify each other in our raucous public debates. But we have always had so much more in common with each other than in disagreement. If only we remember that and give each other the benefit of the presumption that we all love our country, we will get through these challenging times. We will come through them stronger than before. We always do.

Ten years ago, I had the privilege to concede defeat in the election for president. I want to end my farewell to you with the heartfelt faith in Americans that I felt so powerfully that evening.

I feel it powerfully still.

Do not despair of our present difficulties but believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history. We make history.

Farewell, fellow Americans. God bless you and God bless America.

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US President Donald Trump has announced a new trade “understanding” with Mexico that could overhaul the existing North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), putting pressure on Canada to agree to new terms on auto trade and other issues in order to remain part of the three-country pact. 

Addressing reporters in the White House Oval Office on Wednesday, Trump praised the preliminary agreement as an “incredible deal” for both countries.

But the president hinted that all might not be smooth sailing from here, suggesting he could cut Ottawa out of the deal reached with Mexico and adding that he wanted to change the agreement’s name.

“They used to call it NAFTA. We’re going to call it the United States-Mexico trade agreement. We’ll get rid of the name NAFTA,” Trump said, adding that he would call Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to begin negotiations with the treaty’s third party “very soon”.

Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto spoke to Trudeau on Monday and urged Ottawa to rapidly rejoin the talks with the goal of getting a final NAFTA rewrite this week.

Without Canada, the US’ number two trading partner, it’s unclear whether any new US trade agreement with Mexico would be possible.

Under Monday’s preliminary agreement, Mexico agreed to ensure that 75 percent of automotive content be produced within Mexico and the US, up from the current 62.5 percent, according to the Office of the US Trade Representative. The preliminary deal also says that 40 to 45 percent of the auto content must be made by workers earning at least $16 an hour.

December 1 deadline

Negotiators have been shuttling back and forth between the three countries for months to try to iron out the bilateral stumbling blocks, including rules for the auto market, before the end of August.

Talks ground to a halt in May, in part due to the July 1 presidential elections in Mexico.

The trilateral treaty has been a key target in Trump’s aggressive trade strategy and he has repeatedly threatened to scrap it altogether, branding it a “disaster”.

But after a year of intense negotiations to salvage NAFTA, US and Mexican negotiators are eager to seal a new deal before Pena Nieto hands power to President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador on December 1.

For that to happen, US Congress must be notified 90 days in advance, which means the administration must send the notice by the end of the week.

A Canadian foreign ministry spokesperson said earlier on Monday that Ottawa was encouraged by “progress” between the US and Mexico, but cautioned that any new version of NAFTA would need to be beneficial for Canada before being signed off on by officials.

Campaign promises

Al Jazeera’s Kimberly Halkett, reporting from Washington, DC, said Trump was “delivering” on promises made during his successful presidential campaign to renegotiate major trade deals affecting US workers.

“Essentially what this [deal] seems to do is update the 24-year-old agreement with respect, particularly, to the manufacturing sector, particularly when it comes to cars, an area that was decimated in many respects because of NAFTA,” Halkett said.

“A lot of [US-based] jobs went to Mexico, where the labour supply was cheaper,” she added.

NAFTA, which came into effect at the beginning of January 1994, lifted tariffs on virtually all goods traded among the US, Canada, and Mexico.

Trilateral trade between the three countries has exceeded $1tn annually in recent years, according to a 2017 report by the US’ Congressional Research Service, with Canada and Mexico ranking in the top three largest buyers from, or suppliers to, the US in 2016.

Job losses

But critics of the deal suggest it has led to significant job losses within the US market, with companies shifting operations to Mexico due to lower production costs.

According to the US-based Economic Policy Institute, about 700,000 jobs have been lost nationwide due to growing trade deficits with Mexico caused by NAFTA.

Al Jazeera’s John Holman, reporting from Mexico City, said outgoing President Nieto “probably had to make sacrifices” to protect a trade agreement with the US, with a possible consequence being the flight of car manufacturing companies from the country.

“Workers in Mexico might be the ones that come out of this well, because wages in certain sectors may have to go up as a result of the [new] trade deal,” Holman said.

“Wages are currently very low in Mexico and that is one of the reasons that car makers are attracted to the country, the low cost of labour, but it [the new deal] might also affect whether they want to stay in Mexico or go to Asia and the US,” he added.

Advisers of incoming President Lopez Obrador hailed the new deal, saying it represented progress on energy and wages for Mexico’s workers. 

Lopez Obrador is a leftist free-trade sceptic, and his landslide victory in Mexico’s July 1 elections had raised doubts about the future of the ongoing renegotiation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).

However, his transition team has been taking part in the talks and gave their blessing to the two-way deal. 

Manchester United v Tottenham Hotspur live Premier League commentary – Live – BBC Sport

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WASHINGTON – As preparations were made for the late Sen. John McCain’s memorial services this week, the flags at the White House flew Monday at full staff.

The flags flying above the West Wing and the Eisenhower Executive Office Building had been lowered late Saturday, after news of the Arizona Republican’s death broke. 

By Monday morning, the flags were at full staff again. However, on Capitol Hill, where McCain served in the Senate for more than 30 years, the flags remained at half staff.

Flags are lowered by presidential proclamation, so the president decides who receives the honor. But the recent tradition for sitting senators who die in office has been to have flags lowered in their honor from their death until their burial.

During former President Barack Obama’s time in office, four sitting senators died while he was in office: Democratic Sen. Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts in 2009, Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia in 2010, Democratic Sen. Daniel Inouye of Hawaii in 2012 and Democratic Sen. Frank Lautenberg of New Jersey in 2013. 

Obama signed proclamations for Kennedy, Byrd and Inouye, and those proclamations lowered flags to half staff until the days they were buried. The Obama White House archives don’t include a proclamation for Lautenberg, though per his obituary by the Associated Press, the flag did fly at half-staff at the White House for an unspecified amount of time.

Additionally, when Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia died in 2016 – the first time a justice died in office in more than 50 years – Obama signed a proclamation on the day of his death, ordering flags lowered until his burial.

McCain’s death is the first time a sitting senator has died since President Donald Trump’s administration began. And, per the U.S. flag code, Trump has followed the rule: The flag need only be lowered for a member of Congress on the day of their death and the day after.

Trump has spurred debate over his decisions on when and when not to lower the flag, especially in the wake of mass shootings. He has issued proclamations over massacres in Las Vegas and Parkland, Florida. After the newsroom shooting at the Capital Gazette in Annapolis, Maryland, he drew criticism for not initially bringing the flags to half staff. He ultimately lowered them five days after the shooting.

But he has also lowered the flag for other public figures. Notably, when former first lady Barbara Bush died, Trump issued a proclamation in her honor – keeping the flags at half staff until the day she was buried.

And yet, amid an outpouring of praise for McCain – a former prisoner of war, a longtime lawmaker and past GOP presidential candidate – Trump made only a brief statement about the senator’s death, offering condolences to his family on Twitter but without any words of praise for McCain himself. The two had a long history of mutual disdain.

Contributing: Gregory Korte

More: Report: President Trump scrapped official statement praising Sen. John McCain

More: President Donald Trump’s brevity on John McCain speaks volumes about their strained relationship

 

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The European Union must stop depending on the United States for security and must now rely on its own military forces for protection, France’s President Emmanuel Macron said. 

In a speech to French ambassadors on Monday, Macron said he would put forward new proposals to the EU to boost security and that all European nations, including Russia, should be involved in discussions on defence cooperation. 

“Europe cannot rely on the United States only for its security,” he said. “It is up to us to meet our responsibilities and guarantee our security.”

Since his election in May 2017, the 40-year-old leader has campaigned for a more integrated EU with a common defence budget and security doctrine.

During the speech, Macron said cooperation with Russia should occur on the condition that progress is made with Moscow on the fighting in eastern Ukraine. 

Paris is pushing for full implementation of the 2015 Minsk peace agreement that was sponsored by France and Germany to settle the conflict in Ukraine, which has killed at least 10,000 people since 2014.

In November, EU countries launched an unprecedented programme of joint military investment aimed at confronting EU security challenges. Twenty-three of the 28 member states signed up to the plan. 

‘Turning its back’

Macron called on Europe to be “a trade and economic power” that defends its strategic interests and financial independence with tools that can fend off US extraterritorial sanctions.

“Multilateralism is going through a major crisis which collides with all our diplomatic activity, above all because of US policy,” he said.  

Macron also criticised US President Donald Trump’s “aggressive” isolationism.

“The partner with whom Europe built the post-World War order appears to be turning its back on this shared history,” the French president said.

‘In our neighbourhood’

Meanwhile, Germany’s foreign minister said on Monday that European nations must fill the gaps left by the withdrawal of the US from international organisations and key regions of the world.

Heiko Maas told German diplomats in Berlin that Europe should increase its political and financial weight at the United Nations and the World Trade Organization – both of which have come under pressure from Washington since Trump took office last year.

He also urged Europe to step up its activities in the Middle East, Africa and western Balkans, warning that “the cost of war, poverty and displacement in our neighbourhood … is borne by us Europeans”.

Maas said while Europe should seek to “rebalance” its relationship with Washington, “the goal is never ‘Europe first’”.

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

World number one Simona Halep became the first top-seeded woman to lose in the US Open first round, falling to a 6-2 6-4 defeat against Kaia Kanepi.

The 26-year-old Romanian’s serve was broken five times in the first match on the new Louis Armstrong Stadium.

She fought back from a double break down to 4-4 in the second set but the Estonian broke again before Halep sent a forehand long on match point.

Halep also lost her opening match at Flushing Meadows last year.

The French Open champion was beaten by Maria Sharapova in New York in 2017.

Before Monday’s defeat, no women’s top seed had lost in the opening round at the US Open since the professional era began in 1968, the same year that the tournament was given its current name, having previously been known as the US National Championships.

World number 44 Kanepi, 33, reached the quarter-finals at Flushing Meadows last year but has had a succession of injury problems in recent years.

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump said Monday the U.S. and Mexico have reached a new trade deal, paving the way for the possible revision of the North American Free Trade Agreement.

In an Oval Office announcement, Trump said the new agreement would be called the United States Mexico trade agreement and would replace NAFTA, which he said had “bad connotations” for the United States.

“It’s a big day for trade,” he said. “It’s a big day for our country.”

Trump said he intends to terminate NAFTA and that the U.S. would immediately begin negotiations with Canada, the third party in the trilateral trade pact that he has called the “worst deal ever.”

“If they would like to negotiate fairly, we will do that,” Trump said. He said it’s possible that a separate deal could be reached with Canada.

The announcement of a deal between the U.S. and Mexico comes after five consecutive weeks of talks between the two nations to revise key parts of the NAFTA.

In a phone call with Trump, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto called the deal “something very positive for the United States and Mexico.”

The U.S. and Mexico are hoping to get a final deal signed before Peña Nieto leaves office on Dec. 1. But before the U.S. can sign the deal, Congress must be given 90 days’ notice. A formal notice will be sent to Congress on Friday.

Peña Nieto repeatedly expressed interest for Canada to be incorporated into the agreement. Trump said the U.S. would have a deal with Canada “one way or another.”

“It’ll either be a tariff on cars or it’ll be a negotiated deal,” he said. “Frankly, a tariff on cars is a much easier way to go. Perhaps, the other would be much better for Canada.”

In Mexico City, Marcelo Ebrard, Mexico’s incoming foreign minister under President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, said Monday he was pleased to see the U.S and Mexico craft a new trade deal, according to Reuters.

“We see the agreement announced today as positive progress … in the coming days we will continue in trilateral negotiations with Canada, which is vital to be able to renew the (trade) pact,” said Marcelo Ebrard, the future foreign minister.

Douglas George, the Detroit-based consul general of Canada responsible for Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky, sounded upbeat on Monday.

“We’re encouraged by the optimism shown by our negotiating partners,” George told the Detroit Free Press on Monday. “Progress between Mexico and the U.S. is a necessary requirement for any renewed NAFTA agreement. While they’ve been negotiating, we’ve been in regular contact with them over the last weeks. We’ll continue to work toward a modernized NAFTA. We have a three-way negotiation that’s been ongoing.”

He added, “We’ll only sign a new NAFTA that’s good for Canada and the middle class.”

George declined to comment on the idea of renaming of NAFTA.

Negotiators the U.S. and Mexico worked over the weekend to iron remaining differences and strike a deal between those two countries before Canada is brought back to the table.

One of the key sticking points in the talks has centered on the so-called auto rules of origin, which dictate that, to avoid tariffs, a certain percentage of an automobile must be built from parts that originated from countries within the NAFTA region.

Other stumbling blocks have included the procedure used to settle disputes between corporations and governments and the Trump administration’s push for the inclusion of a sunset provision under which the revised NAFTA agreement would expire after five years unless all three countries take steps to extend it.

Mexico and Canada have both balked at such a provision, arguing that trade agreements are supposed to offer the assurance of continuity for businesses and make it easier for them to comply with regulatory requirements.

Meanwhile, the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, which represents major automakers on policy issues in Washington, sounded an optimistic note Monday after reports of a preliminary deal between the U.S. and Mexico.

Automakers had expressed concerns that a breakdown in NAFTA could compromise their profits, lead to higher vehicle prices and force them to shift production.

“Automakers support modernizing NAFTA to bring this nearly 25-year-old agreement into the 21st century,” the Auto Alliance said Monday in a statement. “We are pleased to hear that the U.S. and Mexico have reached a consensus on several issues, including automotive rules of origin, and we look forward to learning more.”

Trump’s supporters have argued that Mexico has benefited from NAFTA and the deal should be reworked.

Mexico’s share of vehicles manufactured in North America has grown from about 12 percent in 2007 to an estimated 23 percent in 2017, according to the Center for Automotive Research. The U.S. share has fallen from 70 percent to 62 percent during that period.

The Auto Alliance on Monday urged the U.S. and Mexico to “quickly re-engage with Canada to continue to build on this progress.”

The group called for negotiators to “continue to strike the right balance by incentivizing production and investment in North America while keeping new vehicles affordable for more Americans.”

Contributing: Nathan Bomey of USA Today and Phoebe Wall Howard of the Detroit Free Press.

More: What is NAFTA? Seven things to know about the North American free trade pact

More: U.S.-Mexico are close to reaching a deal in NAFTA talks, but Canada is still a wild card

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The United States vowed to fight Iran before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), calling Tehran’s move to question the legality of recently reimposed sanctions an attempt to interfere with its national security.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued the statement on Monday as legal proceedings began before the court in The Hague.

“Iran’s filing with the ICJ is an attempt to interfere with the sovereign rights of the United States to take lawful actions, including reimposition of sanctions, which are necessary to protect our national security. The proceedings instituted by Iran are a misuse of the court,” said Pompeo.

Iran has asked the international court to order the US to lift sanctions against Tehran after Washington unilaterally pulled out of the 2015 nuclear deal. 

In the Netherlands on Monday, Mohsen Mohebi, the lawyer representing Iran, condemned the US for “naked economic aggression” in the first session of the case.  

Iran said the US sanctions, which are damaging its already-weak economy, violate terms of a little-known 1955 friendship treaty between the two countries.

Tehran filed its case before the ICJ in late July, calling on the top UN tribunal’s judges to order the immediate lifting of sanctions, which it said would cause “irreparable prejudice”.

‘Won’t shy away’

The United States will formally respond in oral arguments on Tuesday.

US lawyers are expected to argue the UN court should not have jurisdiction in the dispute, that the friendship treaty is no longer valid, and the sanctions Washington levied against Tehran do not violate the deal. 

The ICJ has so far ruled the 1955 treaty is still valid, even though it was signed long before the 1979 Islamic Revolution that triggered decades of hostile relations with Washington.

The hearings – essentially a request by Iran for a provisional ruling – will last four days with a decision to follow within a month.

The ICJ is the United Nations tribunal for resolving international disputes. Its rulings are binding but it has no power to enforce them, and verdicts have been previously ignored by some countries, including the US.

In an interview with Al Jazeera, Maya Lester, an international sanctions lawyer, said the 1955 treaty between Iran and the US remains in force, and had been previously invoked by both countries before the international court. 

“Certainly, if the court thinks that there’s been a violation, it won’t shy away from saying so,” Lester said, adding other courts in Europe have also looked into the legality of the sanctions.

“But this case is unusual as it is a wholesale attack on international law grounds, on the current snapback of US sanctions against Iran,” she said.

“In principle, the ICJ could declare these sanctions unlawful and in breach of international law.”    

‘Psychological war’

US President Donald Trump pulled out of the landmark 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers, and announced unilateral plans to restore sanctions against Tehran.

Under the deal, Iran reined in its nuclear programme under UN monitoring and won the removal of devastating international sanctions in return.

Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif accused the US this week of waging “psychological war” against Tehran and its business partners.

Although European allies have protested Trump’s move, most Western companies intend to adhere to the sanctions, preferring to lose business with Iran rather than being financially punished by the US or barred from doing business there. 

SOURCE: Al Jazeera and news agencies

TEAM NEWS

Manchester United could welcome back Alexis Sanchez, who was ruled out of the defeat by Brighton because of a groin problem.

Nemanja Matic and Antonio Valencia may also be available after injuries.

Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino remains without Son Heung-min as he is still on international duty with South Korea at the Asian Games.

Victor Wanyama has returned to training following a knee injury but is not expected to be involved on Monday.

RADIO 5 LIVE COMMENTATOR’S NOTES

@bbcjohnmurray: The mood of the Manchester United manager looks likely to improve only with the winning of football matches.

That is something they have been consistently able to do at Old Trafford against Tottenham in the four years that Mauricio Pochettino has been in charge.

In their most recent meeting, the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley in April, United ended Spurs’ hopes of winning their first trophy under the Argentine.

But Tottenham have won two out of two, Harry Kane has broken his August goal-scoring duck, and their mood will be to add to Jose Mourinho’s recent discomfort.

VIEW FROM THE DUGOUT

Manchester United manager Jose Mourinho: “Against Brighton, we made mistakes, we paid for the mistakes and we lost.

“I think you look at football in a very pragmatic way, normally you get what you deserve, so if we want to win against a good team against Tottenham, we cannot make mistakes.

“In big matches last season we managed to get lots of good results, which in the end are points like the other points in the other matches. But for the supporters, normally it has a little different feeling.”

Tottenham Hotspur manager Mauricio Pochettino: “We are a big club of course, we need to be bigger of course and we are on the way to be a bigger club. But after four years, many people say we haven’t won anything.

“That is history. We are trying to set the basis to win, we are breaking records about good results but of course it is not enough.”

LAWRO’S PREDICTION

Tottenham have lost their past five trips to Old Trafford, scoring just once.

Manchester United will be hurting after being rolled over by Brighton. There seem to be some tensions there and there will be people with points to prove.

Prediction: 2-1

Lawro’s full predictions v actors Idris Elba & Aml Ameen

MATCH FACTS

Head-to-head

• Tottenham’s 21 defeats at Old Trafford is the most by any away team at a single stadium in Premier League history.
• Spurs have lost four consecutive league matches away at United without scoring.

Manchester United

• Only in the 1992-93 season have the Red Devils lost more than one of their opening three matches of a Premier League campaign.
• A London team has not won away against Manchester United in the Premier League since Spurs’ victory on New Year’s Day 2014. Since then, London clubs have taken just seven points from a possible 66 at Old Trafford.
• United’s next Premier League home defeat will be their 50th in the competition at Old Trafford. Thirty one percent of those defeats have happened since Sir Alex Ferguson left as manager.
• Since taking over ahead of the 2016-17 season, Jose Mourinho has guided his team to 153 points – 16 fewer than Spurs and 32 less than Manchester City.

Tottenham

• Mauricio Pochettino has won 199 matches in all competitions as a manager, including 123 with Tottenham.
• Harry Kane has only scored once in eight league games against Manchester United. His solitary goal in 645 minutes in this fixture is his worst Premier League ratio against any of the 26 different teams he has scored against.
• Kane has scored 18 goals versus established top-six opposition in the Premier League, which is two more than Romelu Lukaku despite playing 2,008 minutes fewer than the Belgian in those games.
• Pochettino has lost 11 competitive fixtures against Jose Mourinho, more than against any other manager.

Authorities continued to probe Monday why a player at a video-game tournament in Jacksonville, Florida, gunned down two people and wounded 11 others Sunday, an incident that has prompted calls for more security at gaming events.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said the lone shooter, who is believed to be David Katz, 24, of Baltimore, was among the dead and had killed himself. No motive has been revealed yet. Some media reports said Katz was upset about losing an intense game.

FBI agents, some in bulletproof vests with long guns, searched a family home of the man authorities believe is behind the attack in Baltimore, according to FBI spokesman Dave Fitz. The agents could be seen entering an upscale townhome complex near the city’s Inner Harbor.

The violence broke out during a Madden NFL 19 video game tournament that was held in a gaming bar that shared space with the Chicago Pizza and Sports Grille in an entertainment complex along the St. Johns River in Jacksonville.   

The incident stunned gamers and sparked questions about security at gaming events. They are typically livestreamed from local bars or other gathering spots; the largest are held in sports arenas. Another tournament, the Evolution Championship Series in Las Vegas, drew about 15,000 people in March.

“It’s very clear that we need to be more proactive for 2019 and beyond,” tweeted Joey Cuellar, the tournament director. “The amount of undercover law enforcement at Evo was unprecedented, and we will be installing metal detectors for ALL days next year.”

Esports have become big business, which Goldman Sachs report valued at $500 million in 2016. Epic Games announced in May it will provide $100 million to fund prize pools for “Fortnite” tournaments during the first year of competition.

At Sunday’s Madden competition, the tournament was streamed live on Twitch.tv, an online network that attracts tens of millions of visitors, most of whom watch footage of other people playing video games.

“In the world of competitive video games, mental health issues loom so large and come up so often that the problem somehow becomes invisible,” wrote Tyler Erzberger, who covers esports for ESPN. “In a world where one day you can go from playing in your bedroom to the next being criticized by millions under spotlights, mental health can’t be overlooked.”

A live feed from the tournament at GLHF Game Bar showed the horror: The feed was interrupted by the sound of several gunshots, followed by people stampeding out. The shooter had a large-caliber handgun with a laser-sight attachment, according to Braheem Johnson of Jacksonville, who was working at the pizzeria, which adjoins the game bar.

“I just heard shots and I looked at the window and I see him,” Johnson said. “Dude came in there, basically like, to kill, basically. He was just in his rampage mode.”

Marquis Williams and his girlfriend, Taylor Poindexter, were visiting the tournament from Chicago and about to order a pizza. The gunfire caught them off guard.

“The first shot, everybody just turned around and looked,” Williams said. “The second, third, fourth shots, everyone just took off and ran for the exits.”

Poindexter said they caught sight of the shooter.

“We saw him, had two hands on the gun, walking back, just popping rounds,” she said.

While authorities had not released the names of the two shooting victims, multiple media outlets, including Florida Today of the USA TODAY Network, reported they were Taylor Robertson, 27, of Ballard, West Virginia, and Eli Clayton, 22, of Woodland Hills, California.

Sheriff Mike Williams said nine of the injured were taken to hospitals, seven with gunshot wounds. Two others sought hospital care on their own.

University of Florida Health Jacksonville, a level-one trauma center that treated six of the wounded, said Monday that four had been released and two were still there, one in good condition and the other in serious condition.

At Memorial Hospital, officials said three of the four shooting victims admitted Sunday remain in the hospital’s care and are in good condition. A fourth was treated and discharged.

“Our prayers go out to those who lost family or friends during today’s shooting at Jacksonville Landing,” read a post on the hospital’s Facebook page.

Nearby at Baptist Health, spokeswoman Cyndi Hamilton said one patient admitted yesterday for injuries sustained while fleeing the scene was treated and released.  

More: FBI, ATF search Baltimore home in connection with Jacksonville shooting at Madden tournament

More: Here are the victims of the Jacksonville shooting at Madden tournament

More: 3 dead after shooting rampage at Madden tourney at Jacksonville Landing

Complexity Gaming, a professional gaming team that had a player participating in the event at the GLHF Game Bar, said Twitter participant Drini Gjoka was grazed in the hand but was “away from the scene and safe.”

Gjoka tweeted that he was hit in the thumb when the tournament “got shot up.”

“Worst day of my life,” Gjoka said. “I will never take anything for granted ever again. Life can be cut short in a second.”

Contributing: John Torres of Florida Today and The Associated Press

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