Fragadelphia 13 organizer John Fazio promised to heighten security at the Counter-Strike: Global Offensive event following an online shooting threat.
Twitter user Droidcsgo posted a screengrab of a Counter-Strike game focusing on the in-game chat, where CSGO player “ohcgnor” mentions that they are considering “shooting up” the Fragadelphia event. Fazio responded to the tweet a few hours later and declared that the organizers were taking the matter seriously.
“We are in the process of connecting with Faceit and alerting the FBI & local PD. We will have armed security and a police presence on site at Fragadelphia,” Fazio said.
The threat was made by ohcgnor during an argument with another player. The full chat was later posted by Droidcsgo and included the typically toxic bickering of an online competitive match. When asked if they would be attending Fragadelphia, ohcgnor responded that they “might shoot up frag, irl.”
At the time, many of the other players involved seemed to gloss over the comment without taking it seriously.
Shooting threats cannot be taken lightly, especially with the increasing number of tragedies in recent years. And these attacks have occured in the gaming community before.
Victims Elijah Clayton and Taylor Robertson were killed in Jacksonville, Florida last year during a Madden NFL 19 tournament. Fazio is determined not have a similar tragedy occur Fragadelphia this year.
“Our priority is providing a safe gaming atmosphere for all,” Fazio said.
Fragadelphia is a popular event for both amateurs and pros and the self-proclaimed largest North American open tournament for CSGO. The 2019 prize pool is $35,000, and eleven teams have registered thus far including Rebirth eSports.
This year’s event will be held September 13 at Huntington Beach, California. California has been the victim of nine mass shootings over the past two years, with the latest tragedy occurring less than two weeks ago in Gilroy, California.Â
Fragadelphia 13 is still set to proceed as planned, but attendees should expect to see heightened security at this year’s event.
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