Fort Meyers, Florida: At Least 2 Dead, 17 Injured Following Club Shooting

[TheComputerGroup]

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/1-dead-wounded-fort-myers-club-shooting-article-1.2724551

A shooter opened fire at a Fort Myers, Fla., nightclub and fled after killing at least two and wounding 17 people as young as 12 years old early Monday.

Cops found several gunshot victims in the strip mall parking lot where evidence cones later marked dozens of bullet casings outside Club Blu, Fort Myers police officials said.

The attack apparently took place at a teen party billed as a "Swimsuit Glow Party.
A spray of bullets struck a group of people whose ages ranged from 12 to 27, at the south Fort Myers venue around 12:30 a.m., according to WBBH-TV. Further gunfire was reportedly aimed at a home and vehicle less than a mile away and police believe it is related to the nightclub incident.
Cops apprehended three people on suspicion of the attack near a gas station six miles from Club Blu and reopened barricaded roads following the manhunt. Authorities are "actively canvassing the area looking for other persons who may be involved in this incident."

"We are deeply sorry for all involved," the club wrote on its Facebook page. "We tried to give the teens WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A SAFE PLACE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME. Ages 12-17. There was armed security as well as full security, inside and out.

"As the club was closing and parents were picking their children up ..... that's when all this took place," the statement continued. "There was nothing more we could of done az you see it was not kids at the party that did this despicable act."

 

[slapshot]

Fucking stupid idiots

 

[KennyB]

12 year old kids at a club at midnight? Gang related? Black lives matter?

 

[Greenbacks]

Shooting victim Stefan Strawder was a star basketball player at his high school.

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Greenbacks]

 

[Enfuego]

12 year old kids at a club at midnight? Gang related? Black lives matter?

Not only a 12-year-old but a 27-year-old was there too? At a teen swimsuit club party?

Who the hell are these parents?

 

[aceduecetrey]

I have lived in The Fort Myers area for 25 of the last 30 years and it has quickly become a shit hole that is full of Spanish and Black looking to kill one another. I currently live 20 minutes north of the city and I avoid going there at all costs!

 

[Greenbacks]

Looks like this was gang related.....I`ll post the suspects when released shortly.

 

[Greenbacks]

Here`s the 14 and 18 year old that were killed....So young....Sad!

 

[C.P.]

Agree...that area...is not very good...

My place is (gated) miles south of Page Field...

try to stay away from that area at all cost...

all cities have good and bad parts..plain & simple...

sad day for those killed and wounded

 

[Greenbacks]

Florida police said on Monday they had taken three people into custody but were searching for additional suspects in connection with a shooting outside a nightclub just after midnight that left two teenagers dead and more than a dozen people wounded.The shooting took place shortly after 12:30 a.m. EDT (0430 GMT) on Monday in the parking lot of Club Blu, which was hosting an event open to teenagers, the Fort Myers Police Department said.

Police said Stef'An Strawder, an 18-year-old high school basketball star, and Sean Archilles, 14, were killed. Two other people were critically wounded.
Police officials in Fort Myers, located on Florida's Gulf Coast, said terrorism was not a factor in the state's latest outburst of gun violence this summer, but provided no details about a possible motive.

The three young men were arrested after fleeing the scene in two vehicles and were charged in connection to that pursuit, according to the Lee County Sheriff's Office said in a statement posted on Facebook.
According to the statement Derrick Church, 19, was charged with assault on a law enforcement officer after accelerating his vehicle toward a sheriff's deputy. Church was shot in the stomach by the deputy during that altercation, but was treated and had been released from a hospital, the sheriff's department said.
Demetrius O'Neal, 19, and Tajze Battle, 22, were taken into custody on suspicion of resisting arrest, according to the statement.

"This was not a terrorist act," Fort Myers interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said at a news conference.
He said officers responding to the shooting found chaos at the scene.
"No one really knew what was going on or what happened," Eads said.

Officers provided first aid to victims, bandaging some with tourniquets to stop bleeding, he said. Paramedics took some victims to the hospital while others drove themselves.
At least 19 people, ranging from 12- to 27-years-old, were treated at local hospitals, said Lisa Sgarlata, chief administrative officer for Lee Memorial Hospital.
Three patients remained hospitalized at Lee Memorial as of Monday afternoon, two of whom were in critical condition.

The shooting came six weeks after a massacre at a nightclub in Orlando, in central Florida, where a gunman who sympathized with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Despite the recent violence, Florida Governor Rick Scott said the state's crime rates were at a 45-year low.
Fort Myers, about 150 miles southwest of Orlando, was the scene of another shooting incident last October when one person was killed and several wounded by gunfire at a festival that attracts thousands of people in zombie costumes.

Before the latest shooting, Club Blu, located in a partially vacant strip mall, was hosting a "swimsuit glow party" for people of all ages, according to a flyer posted on Twitter by television station WINK.
The nightclub said on its Facebook page that the shooting occurred when the venue was closing and parents were picking up their children. The page later appeared to have been removed.

"We tried to give the teens what we thought was a safe place to have a good time," the nightclub's post said, adding that armed security guards were present inside and outside the club. "It was not kids at the party that did this despicable act."
Jean Archilles, 37, the father of the 14-year-old killed, said his son loved sports, especially basketball.

"It happened for a reason. I don't know what the reason is," he said in a telephone interview, adding that he had not been told details about his son's death.
Sean Archilles was due to enter eighth grade at Royal Palm Exceptional Center, while Strawder was to start his senior year at Lehigh Senior High School, according to the Lee County School District.

Strawder's mother, Stephanie White, told the News-Press newspaper that her son was shot in his right shoulder as he walked out of the club and was pronounced dead at the hospital. His 19-year-old sister survived a gunshot wound in the leg, White said.
Police said shots were also fired at a nearby residence, where there was one minor injury.
In a video interview, Syreeta Gary said her daughter and a friend ran for cover. Her daughter escaped unscathed, but a bullet struck a friend in the leg.

 

[KennyB]

Unfortunately it is the muslims one day and black violence the next day.

 

[Greenbacks]

Unfortunately it is the muslims one day and black violence the next day.

That`s the trend lately

 

[HotRocks]

Not only a 12-year-old but a 27-year-old was there too? At a teen swimsuit club party?

Who the hell are these parents?

Well... the 27 yr old was a senior at the high school...and the parent of the 12 yr old too I'm guessing