Police tape

Gunfire erupted outside a nightclub in Fort Myers, Fla., at about 12:30 a.m. Monday, leaving two people dead and at least 16 people injured.

The circumstances of the shooting, or shootings, were unclear.

Fort Myers police responded to Club Blu, at 3580 Evans Avenue, where they 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 hospitals, and Lee County Emergency Medical Services transported all of the remaining victims.

The first victims began arriving at Lee Memorial Hospital about 1:30 a.m. Monday, spokeswoman Cheryl Garn said in a statement. Sixteen people, ranging in age from 12 to 27, were treated in the trauma center and emergency department. One person died at the hospital. All but three of the victims had been released by 6 a.m. Monday, the spokeswoman said. Two people were admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, one in serious condition and the other in critical. A third was admitted in fair condition.

Another shooting victim was treated and released at Cape Coral Hospital.

At least two other scenes are connected to the incident, police said. Shots were fired at a residence and vehicle at 2550 Parkway Street, about a half-mile from the club. One minor injury was reported there. Nearly six miles from the club, on Ortiz Avenue between Luckett and Ballard roads, three people were detained for questioning, police said.

Authorities are still investigating and have not determined what exactly happened. The Fort Myers Police Department and the Lee County Sheriff’s Office were actively canvassing the area for others who may be involved in the shooting, authorities said.

At 4:30 a.m., police were trying to identify the deceased to notify next of kin. The scene was considered “very active” for several hours, but as of 5:20 a.m., authorities considered the scene under control.

Local media reported early Monday that the club was hosting a teen night when the shooting happened, but officials with the Fort Myers Police Department would not confirm that and said it was part of the investigation.

Syreeta Gary told TV station Fox 4 that her daughter was at Club Blu when the first bullets started to fly.

“I just thank God that my daughter is okay, because she could have been shot,” Gary said. “Her dodging bullets and running and dropping between cars, it’s ridiculous that these kids have to go through this. They can’t enjoy themselves because you have other people that have criminal minds and they just want to terrorize things.”

Her daughter’s friend was shot in the leg, Gary told Fox 4.

“She wasn’t as lucky as my daughter,” the mother said.

A witness told Fox 4 reporters that someone in a black SUV shot at random toward homes along Parkway Street. Reporters counted at least 30 shell casings in the area, the TV station reported.

One woman said on Facebook Live that she was talking with friends in the parking lot of the apartment complex across the street from the club when she heard the gunshots begin and saw teenagers running toward them. She described the bullets as “spraying non-stop.” Her group hid under a car, she said, and at one point, they started running. The woman said she saw someone who had been shot four or five times lying on the ground and watched another person get shot in the back.

The woman cried and repeatedly spoke of the age of the victims.

“Instead of getting school clothes and all that,” she said of the teens’ parents, “they’re making funeral arrangements.”

This shooting rampage comes just more than a month after a gunman killed 49 people and injured even more at a gay nightclub in Orlando, about 200 miles north of Fort Myers.