Florida shooting: two dead and up to 17 injured outside Fort Myers nightclub

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2016/jul/25/shooting-nightclub-fort-myers-florida

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A shooting outside a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida left two dead including a 14-year-old boy and as many as 17 injured, police said.

Police responded to reports of an incident at Club Blu Bar and Grill, on Evans Avenue, at about 12.30am local time and found several victims with gunshot wounds. Two were confirmed dead; injuries ranged from minor to life-threatening.

One of the victims was 12 years old, Cherly Garn, a spokeswoman for Lee Memorial Health System, told local station WINK. In a tweet, the station said: “Lee Memorial treated 16 nightclub shooting victims. Youngest 12, oldest 27. 4 still in hospital, 1 is critical and 1 is serious.”

Witnesses told media there had been an argument outside the club, which was hosting a “Swimsuit Glow Party” for teenagers, before the shooting. A motive was not known.

Club Blu said in a statement that there was “armed security” inside and outside the club, and that the shooting occurred “as the club was closing and parents were picking their children up”.

Three adults were detained for questioning, police said. The area around the club had been “deemed safe” although some roads in the vicinity were closed as the investigation continued.

Syreeta Gary told WFTX-TV her daughter ran and dodged between shots to avoid being hit. Her daughter was OK, but her daughter’s friend “got hit in the leg and luckily it’s just her leg”, Gary 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 criminalistics minds and they just want to terrorize things.”

Police said there were two other scenes connected to the shooting. One was at 2550 Parkway Street, where a house and vehicles were shot at. The other was on Ortiz Avenue, where a person of interest was detained.

The shooting came a month after a shooting at a nightclub across the state in Orlando, in which a lone gunman killed 49 people and wounded 53 in the deadliest such event in US history.

Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report