FORT MYERS BEACH, Fla. — Three people were shot and one person was killed a little after midnight Wednesday morning at the Lani Kai Resort.
Sheriff Carmine Marceno confirmed in a press conference that it was a dispute between two groups of people on the beach at the resort that lead to the shooting.
The two additional victims who were shot were taken to a local area hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
Sheriff Marceno says they are gathering surveillance video in the area as well as talking to witnesses to track down the suspect who is still on the loose.
"The suspect is still out there. We ask if anyone has information to come forward with that information. But again, we have multiple witnesses and we are working multiple positive leads," said Marceno.
Mariah Lopez was asleep in her room at the Lani Kai this morning when she heard gunfire.
"We heard people screaming! It was so loud. It sounded like rioting," says Lopez. "It was so loud. People were like, call the cops! Call the cops! So we called 911 and they said that they already had people on their way out."
The Lani Kai resort Marketing Director Melissa Schneider says they don't know why the two groups were out on the beach after midnight.
"So we don’t know what happened for people to end out in the sand but everything that we’ve had has been shut down for several weeks and our restaurants closed at 10," said Schneider.
Out of respect to the families, the Lani Kai resort reduced beach and resort activities today.
Long time DJ of the resort says this is the most tragic ordeal he’s seen in his near-decade experience working at the Lani Kai.
"I've been here 9 and a half years and this is the most tragic thing that I’ve ever seen here," said DJ Garrett Mueller. "It’s really sad. I still haven’t put it all together yet. My condolences go out to the family. And the victims."
The Lani Kai resort says they have given over all of their surveillance videos to detectives and are they fully cooperating with LCSO in the investigation.
