One dead in Fort Myers shooting

FORT MYERS, Fla.- One man is dead following a drive-by shooting on the 2100 block of Barden Street, confirmed Fort Myers police.

Authorities say just after 12:30 p.m., officers found a man suffering from a gunshot wound outside the home. The victim died at the scene.

Barden Street was closed for hours from Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard to Dunbar High School as authorities searched for a suspect. It is unknown at this time if the victim was targeted.

The victim was found outside of the home of a nephew of Fort Myers Councilman Johnny Streets. Streets says his nephew wasn’t home at the time of the shooting, but other family members were inside.

“I can say, it hurts to have this continuation of violence,” said Streets.

People who were spending Thanksgiving in the neighborhood say they’re also fed up with the violence.

“It happens on Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years–every holiday,” Jamell Johnson said. “We need to just chill out, take a break, put the guns down, put a fork in your mouth, eat something, get a job, do something positive in the community.”

Witnesses described seeing a late 1980s or early 1990s black, two-door, Chevy Monte Carlo leaving the scene and heading southbound toward Edison Avenue. The vehicle then traveled east on Edison Avenue leaving the area. The Monte Carlo had red pin stripes, stock wheels and no window tint.

If you have any information, call Detective Al Antonini of the Fort Myers Police Department at 239-321-7700, or Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 1-800-780-TIPS (8477) or text message C-R-I-M-E-S (274637) Keyword FMPD. Tipsters can remain anonymous.