FORT MYERS, Fla. – Who fired the bullets outside Club Blu?
The bullets killed 18-year-old Stef’an Strawder, 14-year-old Sean Archilles and injured 18 other teenagers.
Six months later, the question still looms over Southwest Florida.
“It’s been a really long six months, it’s been a very sad six months,” said Trish Routte, coordinator for Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers. “So many tears shed. Two young boys their mothers had to bury and still so many questions.”
The world turned its attention to Fort Myers after bullets flew outside a teen night party at the club on July 25, 2016.
Shell casings at the scene were tied to a gun purchased by Jazmin Challana Barron. The Lehigh Acres woman faces up to five years in prison after she pleaded guilty in federal court to lying about her address when she bought the firearm in 2015.
Barron, 33, said she knows nothing about the shooter.
“All she knows is that she had a firearm at one time, it went missing,” said her attorney, Robert Harris, in December 2016. “Somewhere down the line it ended up in somebody’s hands that we don’t know, an unknown person who used it in the Club Blu shooting.”
George Vance Thompson III, 30, who was arrested in September 2016 on probation, weapons and drug possession charges, is also connected to one of the weapons recovered at the scene. Investigators did not elaborate on the connection.
Multiple lawsuits have been filed by victims of the mass shooting, claiming negligence by the club, which has since closed.
“It’s my understanding that the club had been warned about three days before that a shooting may happen at the club,” said attorney Joe North in August 2016. North represents Strawder’s family and Timothy Settles, whose jaw was shattered by gunfire during the shooting.
The lack of tips is greatly concerning, said Routte, who added that such is abnormal for a high profile case.
“Sadly, we have received the least number of tips in this case than probably any other case that we’ve featured over the years,” she said. “And that’s sad because you had so any people that were in the club that night. You had people who were shot. People that had a bullet in them and they chose not to cooperate with law enforcement. How can we solve a case when you have people who were shot, or their child were shot, and choose not to cooperate?”
The fear of coming forward is understandable, Routte said. She hopes actions like the recent arrests of 22 people involved with the “Lake Boyz” gang will inspire people to come forward.
“We want a safer community, we need the community to step up and talk,” she said. “The power lies within the community.”
Anyone with information about the mass shooting is asked to contact Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS.
