FORT MYERS, Fla. — Fox 4 is bringing concerns from the community to police after a shooting in downtown For Myers early Monday morning.
On Wednesday, business owners in the area tell us they are seeing a rise in crime.
The shooting took place in the area of Hendry and Main Street in downtown Fort Myers.
The shooting stems from Sunday night with Fort Myers police saying they started receiving calls about gunfire in the area around 2 a.m.
Lieutenant Shawn Yates with Fort Myers Police Department spoke with Fox 4 about the active investigation.
“Monday mornings incident isolated as far as shootings. We just don't see those down here on a regular..do we run into occasional gun incidents down here yes we do specifically have gunplay just like there is in other areas of the cities the counties and even around the state and the nation,” said Yates.
Yates said there is a partnership between the department and downtown business owners to prevent things like this from happening.
“When they’re dealing with crowds they are adequately screenings these people and making sure they are not allowing armed people into their establishments,” said Yates.
Especially in high foot traffic areas near Hendry and Main street.
“So we do tend to see fights on the Main Street and Hendry Street area and that’s where we get quite honestly the larger volumes of people into those two-night clubs,” said Yates.
That other nightclub, being the Indigo Room, where surveillance footage captured pieces of what happened Monday morning.
Indigo Room owner, Raimond Aulen told Fox 4 there is an ongoing problem with violence in the area.
“It’s like if I don't have a guy at my door, that’s the night there is going to be an incident,” he said.
So Fox 4 asked Lieutenant Yates about these concerns.
"So this has been happening, we have been talking for months on how to go about things. Change doesn’t happen overnight. We need to look at and we need to make sensible decisions. Sundas night doesn’t immediately change anything on how we are doing things. We are constantly looking at how we are policing and if we need to change it and make improvements,” said Yates,
In the meantime, owners like Raimond Aulen said Fort Myers police need to have a vehicle parked in that area when the bars start to close for the night.
Aulen said Fort Myers Police have done this in the past and hope it will start back up again.
