2 dead and 20 others injured in Club Blu shooting. According to reports Stef’an Strawder, an 18-year-old star basketball player for Lehigh Senior High School, and 14-year-old Sean Archilles was killed. Another student from Royal Palm Exceptional Scool was killed as well.
Lee County Sheriff’s Officer Involved Shooting Just after midnight on July 25, 2016, a shooting incident took place at 3580 Evans Avenue in Fort Myers. Fort Myers Police Department Officers arrived on scene and gathered preliminary information. The information was dispatched to their units in the area, as well as Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputies. At about 1:15 A.M. a call was placed from a person stating they saw two suspicious vehicles, one green and the other was a white, possibly Chevy Malibu styled vehicle. The occupants appeared to be assisting an injured party out of one of the vehicles near the Residences Condominium Complex.
Given the close proximity to the shooting scene, a Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy was dispatched. A Fort Myers Police Department Officer arrived in the area first and saw a white Chevy vehicle driving out of the parking lot. The vehicle drove out of the complex and then southbound in the northbound lanes of Solomon Boulevard. After observing this driving behavior, the Fort Myers Police Department Officer attempted a traffic stop using emergency lights and siren. The vehicle then fled and a Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy assisted in the pursuit.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy conducted a Precision Immobilization Technique maneuver in the area of Luckett Road and Ortiz Avenue, bringing the pursuit to a halt. As the white sedan came to a rest, two subjects fled from it. The Fort Myers Police Department Officer pursued them. As the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy exited his vehicle to pursue the fleeing suspects the driver of the suspect vehicle, nineteen-year-old black male Derrick Church, accelerated toward the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy. The Deputy fired his handgun striking Church in the abdomen.
As a result, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Major Crimes Unit was called to the scene. Derrick Church was treated and released from the hospital and placed under arrest for Aggravated Assault on a Law Enforcement Officer and Fleeing and Elude. Additionally, nineteen-year-old black male Demetrius O’Neal and twenty-two-year-old black male Tajze Battle were located and each charged with Resisting without Violence.
The investigation into the action by the Lee County Sheriff’s Office Deputy is ongoing. Once complete it will be forwarded to the State Attorney’s Office for a complete review.
A brief statement from Sheriff Mike Scott is as follows;
“As always, the men and women of the Lee County Sheriff’s Office engaged immediately upon learning of the incident in the City of Fort Myers. All resources from the Sheriff’s office were brought to bear, and we worked seamlessly with the police department in tracking down and apprehending responsible parties within hours of the incident. I am thankful that our brave law-enforcement officers escaped injury, and I am very happy to say that our community is a safer place today with these three bad guys in jail.”
