The latest shooting at a club that was hosting a teen party has residents anxious the city may be increasingly unsafe. Sean Archilles, 14, would have entered the eight grade at Royal Palm Exceptional Center in Dunbar.
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In a statement, the city announced a partnership with the Southwest Florida Community Foundation and the United Way of Lee, Charlotte, Glades and Okeechobee Counties to open the TOGETHER Fort Myers fund. He suffered minor injuries after being shot by an officer.
Police said on Monday they were searching for additional suspects in connection with the shooting.
Sarah Owen of the Southwest Florida Community Foundation said the community was seeking donations and assistance much like it did after Hurricane Charley struck the area in 2004. These days in Lee County, somebody’s always shooting…. The officer switched on emergency lights and sirens, but the vehicle sped away, according to the sheriff’s office.
Derrick Church, 19, Demetrius O’Neal, 19, and Tajze Battle, 22, were taken into custody after a police chase ensued after the shooting.
The deputy then fired his handgun, shooting Church in the abdomen, officials said.
The shooting on Monday in the parking lot of Club Blu, where more than a dozen people also were wounded, came six weeks after 49 people were killed at an Orlando nightclub by a man who sympathized with Islamic extremists groups. O’Neal and Battle were each charged with one count of resist officer obstruct without violence. O’Neal remained behind bars on Tuesday with a $5,000 bond, while the sheriff’s office released Battle after he paid a $3,500 bond, the News-Press of Fort Myers reported. So a $1,000 cash reward is being offered for information leading to the arrests of the persons responsible.
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By 9 p.m., Crime Stoppers said they had received information from a few people. “But the information known by a significant number of individuals is pivotal to moving this case forward, and ensuring that the parties responsible for their deadly actions are brought to justice”.
