Man sentenced to 45 years for shooting at a Fort Myers police officer

Today Berny Manuel McClellan, 21, was sentenced to 45 years in prison after being found guilty of Attempted Second Degree Murder-Discharging a Firearm for shooting at a police officer and Fleeing to Elude a Law Enforcement Officer (Sirens and Lights Activated with High Speed or Reckless Driving).

He was found guilty following a trial in Lee County earlier this month.

McClellan also pled guilty and was sentenced for one count of Possession of a Firearm by a
Deliquent that was part of this case and a violation of probation.

McClellan shot at a Fort Myers Police Officer following an attempted traffic stop on July 8, 2017 in Fort Myers near Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.

Instead of stopping and pulling over for the officer, the defendant sped away. The officer began to chase the car but later terminated the chase for safety as the suspect started driving at a higher rate of speed.

Soon after, the suspect’s car crashed into a civilian’s car driving by. The driver was okay but their car was totaled.

Just after the crash the same officer who attempted to make the original traffic stop pulled up and as he was getting out of his patrol car, McClellan, began shooting at him. The officer returned fire and two of the five occupants who had been in the car, two 17-year-old twins, were shot.

The other people bailed out of the car and all five of them ran down Michigan Avenue Link
including the two wounded teenagers. Two were apprehended on the same street. McClellan and the twins ran through Fleamasters Flea Market and then jumped a wall into another community.

They then had a friend pick them up and drive them to a nearby house. They were found a short time later following a search and also taken into custody.

The crashed car the suspects had been in had multiple rifles, ammunition, and black bandanas inside. There were also some of those items, including handguns, scattered along the path the occupants took as they fled the scene.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigated the officer involved shooting as well as handled the crime scene. The Fort Myers Police Department investigated the criminal actions of the shooter.