FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — A 14-year-old was one of two people killed early Monday morning when gunfire erupted at a nightclub hosting a swimsuit-themed party for teens in Ft. Myers. At least 17 people were wounded during the shooting, officials said.
Ft. Myers police said on Monday that the shooting was not an act of terror. It was not immediately clear what triggered the violence. Fort Myers police detained three people and said the area around Club Blu had been deemed safe, police Capt. Jim Mulligan said in a statement.
“While we are still learning the details about what happened this morning, we know that some of the victims of this terrible incident were children,” Gov. Rick Scott said in a statement. “We will continue to pray for the victims and their families.” Governor Scott plans to travel to Ft. Myers to meet with law enforcement.
Police identified two of the victims who died as Shawn Achilles, age 14, and Ste’fan Strawder, age 18. The names of all of the victims were not immediately available. Family members said Strawder’s younger sister was shot in the leg, according to WBBH TV.
Three people remained hospitalized Monday morning, Cheryl Garn, a spokeswoman for Lee Memorial Health System, said in an email. All others were treated and released. Two people brought to two other area hospitals were also treated and released, Garn said.
Ages of the patients ranged from 12 to 27, Garn said. Health officials plan to hold a news conference about the need for blood donations following the shooting, according to WBBH TV.
The club is in a strip mall that includes a daycare center and is across the street from a large apartment complex. Officers had the area taped off as crime scene technicians scoured the strip mall parking lot for clues.
State records online show the alcohol license for Club Blu was revoked on June 7. The records from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation say the license was revoked because of an incident that occurred a year ago, but there are no additional details available. The same records also show that a complaint was filed in 2014 for “criminal activity” and that the club was given an official notice.
The violence at Club Blu erupted about 12:30 a.m. Monday, Mulligan said. There were two active crime scenes, police said. Several hours later a street in the area remained closed as police investigated.
In a statement, authorities said the Fort Myers police and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office were “actively canvassing the area looking for other persons who may be involved in this incident.”
Syreeta Gary told WFTX-TV her daughter ran and dodged between shots to avoid being shot. Her daughter was OK, but her daughter’s friend “got hit in the leg and luckily it’s just her leg,” she said.
“Her dodging bullets and running, dropping in between cars, it’s ridiculous that these kids have to go through this,” Gary said. “They can’t enjoy themselves because you have other people that have criminalistic minds and they just want to terrorize things.”
Juan Sanbanez was outside of the club with his wife and children when the shooting erupted. “We just heard a whole bunch of shootings going on. There was people running to the left and right. Some were shot, some were just running,” he said.
He dove on top of them to protect them from the gunfire. “You kind of know that instinct of hitting the floor, so that’s exactly what happened, I just grabbed my wife, she’s pregnant too so it was a pretty bad experience for us.”
A post on Club Blu’s Facebook page Monday morning said the shooting happened as the club was closing and parents were picking up their children. The post also said there was armed security at the event.
“We are deeply sorry for all involved,” the post read. “We tried to give teens what we thought was a safe place to have a good time.”
Lori Lindquist came to the scene to drop off flowers at a growing memorial “I’m a retired social worker and I work with children in this community for Florida many years and it breaks my heart to see the violence and to see what’s happening here.”
She believes the area and society have real problems. “The guns, the availability of guns, the violence, the no regard for human life, it’s just a sad thing,” she said.
The shooting comes more than a month after a nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. The shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12 left 49 victims dead and 53 others wounded.
Club Blu shooting, Fort Myers, FL
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