Attorney: Family of Club Blu shooting victim considers filing lawsuit

FORT MYERS, Fla.- The family of 18-year-old Stef’an Strawder is considering filing a wrongful death lawsuit against Club Blu and Carrell Corners, the plaza the club is located in, attorney Joe North said Tuesday.

The family plans to attempt settling out of court with Club Blu first, North said, otherwise they will file the lawsuit on behalf of Strawder’s estate.

North is also representing Sharrell Strawder, Stef’an Strawder’s sister, who was shot in the leg Monday night.

The 18-year-old and 14-year-old Sean Archilles were both killed in a shooting outside the club early Monday morning where 18 others were also injured.

Late Tuesday afternoon, Terry Pannell and Brandy McLaughlin, two of the security guards at Club Blu at the time of the incident, also released a statement saying they planned to file a lawsuit against Club Blu.

“Our position is that the security team put in place for Club Blu was woefully understaffed for the nature of the event and that the procedures put in place by Club Blu put both patrons and event staff in danger,” said Steven E. Martin, attorney for Pannell and McLaughlin.

Pannell was shot in the thigh while “pushing the teenagers attending the event back into the nightclub,” the attorney said.

A promoter for the club emphasized the shooting did not happen inside, but took place after the party that began on Sunday night wrapped up and teenagers were getting picked up by parents.

Since 2014, Fort Myers police say there have been 88 calls for service to Club Blu, most of them for extra patrol. A majority of the calls also came in after midnight.

Law enforcement sources say the tragic shooting was the act of an individual who had an argument with another person on social media. The same source adds words were exchanged online which lead to other innocent lives getting caught in the crossfire.

“Of course it’s going to be ‘gang related’ but we don’t really call it gangs,” said Dillon Riley who heard the gunshots. “It’s just like any person can get a gun and do it.”

Southwest Florida Police Academy cadets scoured the club’s parking lot for clues on Tuesday.

Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers said not a single tip had been received in the shooting as of Tuesday afternoon.

“People don’t stop to think, think before you do. Stop to think: ‘is this worth my life?'” said Julia Lang who added she’s sick of explaining events, like the Club Blu shooting to her grandchildren. “Is it worth somebody else’s life that you’re going to lose and make a parent mourn for their children because of your stupidity because you decided ‘I got mad at somebody so I’m gonna go kill somebody.'”

Derrick Church, 19, Demetrius O’Neal, 19, and Tajze Battle, 22, identified as persons of interest in the shooting, were booked into the Lee County jail Tuesday morning on unrelated charges.

Battle walked out of jail Tuesday afternoon after posting his $3,500 bond for resisting an officer without violence. O’Neal did the same on his $5,000 bond early Wednesday morning.

Church is being held in jail on $100,000 for charges of aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing and eluding.