Several people were reportedly wounded in a shooting at a South Florida nightclub early Monday. They asked that any victims who left the hospital before speaking with police come forward to share any information they have.
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Police said shots also were fired at a nearby residence, where there was one minor injury.
Investigators say the search for more suspects in the club shooting continues.
Florida Gov. Rick Scott fended off potential calls for gun control in the wake of the shooting at a news conference held Monday.
One club patron said she heard the gunshots outside and hid under a table as the attack occurred, TV station WINK reported.
“We are deeply sorry for all involved”, Club Blu said in a Facebook post.
Club Blu posted on Facebook this morning that the event – for ages 12 to 17 – had ended and teens were leaving when the shooting happened. “… As the club was closing and parents were picking their children up, that’s when all this took place”.
“It devastated me because I have grandkids that age and we were just talking about they wanted to go a club, and I said that was not the right thing to do because of so much that is going in the community and they are not safe”.
Two men ran from the vehicle, the release said, and the driver accelerated toward officers, one of whom shot the man in the abdomen. He said when he got home last night, he saw people running away from the club as police were arriving. Archilles was due to enter the eighth grade at Royal Palm Exceptional Center, while Strawder was to start his senior year at Lehigh Senior High School.
Officers are “actively canvassing the area looking for other persons who may be involved in this incident”. Gary’s daughter wasn’t shot, but her friend was shot in the leg and had to be taken to a hospital.
“This is not something we’re used to, not in this type of volume by any stretch”, said Lee Memorial trauma surgeon Dr. Andrew W. Mikulaschek.
State records online show the alcohol license for Club Blu was revoked June 7 because of an incident that occurred a year ago, but there were no additional details available, according to records from the Department of Business and Professional Regulation. “There were kids. The kid I was holding in my lap, he was 14 years old that got shot”, Tatianna Nouhaioi, a neighbor, told ABC News.
Two families in the Fort Myers area are coming to terms with a tragic shooting that claimed the lives of a 14-year-old and an 18-year-old.
The shooting came six weeks after a massacre at a nightclub in the Florida city of Orlando, where a lone gunman who sympathised with Islamist extremist groups killed 49 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Police are investigating two other related scenes, one on Ortiz Avenue, where a person of interest has been detained.
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The shooting comes more than a month after a gay nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern USA history.
