2 slain, 17 wounded at Fla. teen party
Rap show dispute may have set off mass shooting at club
FORT MYERS, Fla. — With Orlando’s Pulse nightclub massacre still fresh in mind, the mother of a young man who was slain at a nightclub early Monday had warned her 18-year-old son about what to do if gunfire began: “Hit the floor, find a table.”
But when gunfire erupted at the Club Blu parking lot, Stef’an Strawder didn’t have a place to hide. He was killed along with Sean Archilles, 14. Seventeen other people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during a swimsuit-themed party for teens.
“I told him to look for all the exits if any kind of shooting would go off, to hit the floor, find a table and get out of the way ... because I thought about the people in Orlando. That was a big thing,” said Strawder’s mother, Stephanie White.
Since the shooting took place in the parking lot, “He didn’t have that chance,” she said.
Florida is again reeling from a mass shooting at a nightclub, but instead of being committed by a terrorist spouting Islamist ideology, this rampage may have started with an argument over a rap performance. Police have yet to release a motive.
Fort Myers interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said the shooting was not an act of terror. Police detained three people and were looking for others, he said. He declined to discuss details. Hours after the shooting, police had marked more than two dozen shell casings in the parking lot.
The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. Monday, as the club was closing and parents were picking up their children.
Security guard Brandy Mclaughlin — one of at least 10 club owner Cheryl Filardi said she hired for the event — said she saw someone with a semiautomatic rifle open fire, with the shots sounding like “firecrackers.”
“The rapper was upset, someone not being able to perform,” she said. “It wasn’t targeted, terrorist or gays, or anything like that. It wasn’t a black or white situation. It was an idiot. An idiot with a firearm.”
Filardi said the club has had four or five teen parties in the past half-dozen years, and this was the second one this summer. She said the parties are something positive for a rough and often-violent neighborhood.