FORT MYERS, FLA.
Two people have been killed and more than a dozen shot at a nightclub in Fort Myers, Florida, authorities said.
As many as 17 people have been shot in the early Monday shooting at Club Blu, police Capt. Jim Mulligan said.
Three people have been taken into custody and there are two active crime scenes, Mulligan said.
Gunfire erupted outside Club Blu, at 3580 Evans Avenue, at about 12:30 a.m., where police found several victims suffering from gunshot wounds in the parking lot. Injuries ranged from minor to life threatening, Fort Myers police said in a statement.
Some victims left the scene on their own to seek treatment at local hospitals. Lee County Emergency Medical Services transported all remaining victims, some as young as 12 and others as old as 27, the New York Times reported.
Lee Memorial Hospital spokeswoman Cheryl Garn told the Times that the hospital treated 16 victims in the trauma center and emergency department, one of whom died. She said four were still hospitalized and that one was in critical condition.
The area of the shooting was later deemed safe, but Mulligan said a street was still closed as authorities investigated.
In a statement, authorities said the Fort Myers police and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office were “actively canvassing the area looking for other persons who may be involved in this incident.”
One club patron said she heard the gunshots outside and hid under a table as the attack occurred, TV station WINK reported. “Everyone tried to run and duck for cover. I’m sorry I’m so shaken up,” she wrote on Facebook, according to the station.
A nearby resident who witnessed the shooting wrote on Facebook that she first heard the gunshots as she was sitting in the car in her apartment complex with her sister and friends, and that they ran into her building when they heard the sound of bullets get closer. “My ears are still ringing,” she wrote.
The names of the victims were not immediately available.
On its Facebook page, the club had advertised a “Swimsuit Glow Party” Sunday night open to people of all ages. After the shooting, the club posted a status on Facebook criticizing commenters for speculating about the attack before removing the status.
The shooting comes more than a month after a gay nightclub shooting in Orlando that was the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. The shooting at the Pulse nightclub on June 12 left 49 victims dead and 53 others wounded.
2 dead, at least 16 injured in Fort Myers club shooting at teen disco night
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