FIU students react to Fort Myers shooting

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Vibrant beats raging through the hearts of content youth soon fade as bullets rip through Club Blu in Fort Myers, Florida. Around 12:30 a.m. on Monday, July 25, shots rang out killing two teens —Stef’an Strawder, 18, and Sean Archilles, 14— and injured 18 others. Three people are in critical condition and one is in fair condition, according to nbcnews.com.

Strawder was a basketball player who went to Lehigh Senior High School, and died from his wounds at Lee Memorial Hospital. Archilles was an eighth grader who attended Royal Palm Exceptional School, and lost his life at the scene while running from gunshots that sprayed through Club Blu’s parking lot.

Police provided first aid to the victims of the attack, placing tourniquets on some people to stop the bleeding. Paramedics took some people to the hospital, while some others drove themselves. Law enforcement in Fort Myers said that terrorism was not a factor, but provided no details about a possible motive, according to reuters.com.

The shooting came just six weeks after the mass shooting that took place in Orlando at Pulse Nightclub, where 49 people were killed, marking it as the deadliest shooting in American history.

Gardinsky Ady, a junior majoring in biology at FIU, expressed his thoughts on gun violence in America. “Truthfully, I don’t think gun violence is as drastic as most perceive it to be. The gun-carrying community like the NRA and USA carry warn us over and over that crime is out of control, but in reality, violent crimes have dropped by a third since 1989. Although, there could be more done to reduce gun violence, but ultimately, it truly depends on the carrier,” said Ady.

Ady believes that gun ownership doesn’t necessarily mean violent tendencies.

“I know people that own guns that aren’t aggressive by nature and owning a gun doesn’t change that for them,” he said. “Strictly speaking, if you have a gun you’d obviously be more likely to shoot someone compared to someone who doesn’t have one. But if the person already has aggressive tendencies then if they don’t have a gun, they’ll still find something else to inflict pain on others.”

Club Blu was hosting a “No ID required” event for teens from ages 12 through 17. Family members arrived to pick up their children as the party ended when shots were fired. The club stated that they had armed security for the event, and that there “was nothing more we could have done.”

The club publicly apologized through a Facebook post, stating: “We are deeply sorry for all involved. We tried to give the teens what we thought was a safe place to have a good time,” as mentioned on nbcnews.com.

Danielle Sutherland, a junior majoring in hospitality management, shared her sentiments on how gun violence could be decreased.

Make some sacrifices and compromises on the second amendment,” Sutherland said. “It was written in 18th century, we are in the 21st century and guns no longer take that long to load. Maybe limit the assault rifles to military bases and police stations, not the gun room in the house your family sleeps. As well as more thorough background checks on those who want to purchase guns.”

Three people were taken into custody shortly after the incident occurred. Officers responded to a call they received about two suspicious vehicles around 1 a.m. near the scene, according to cbsnews.com.

There were individuals present in these vehicles that helped one injured person out as one of the car. An officer from the Fort Myers Police Department saw one of the cars driving out of the parking lot, and tried to pull the car over, but it fled. This led to a police chase that ended quickly, but the two suspects fled the vehicle, according to cbsnews.com.

These suspects were Derrick Church, 19, Demetrius O’Neal, 19, and Tajze Battle, 22. The officer fired his gun at the fleeing individuals, hitting Church in the abdomen. He was later treated and released from the hospital. All three suspects were booked and taken to jail Tuesday morning, July 26.

Church has been charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing and eluding, and his bond has been set at $100,000. O’Neal and Battle are facing charges for resisting without violence. Battle’s bond was set at $3,500 and O’Neal’s at $5,000, as mentioned on cbsnews.com.

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