BREAKING NEWS LCSO: Lehigh Acres shooting investigation underway

LCSO: 1 dead, 2 injured in shooting on Fort Myers Beach

Reporter: Nicole Gabe
Published: Updated:
LCSO on Fort Myers Beach. Photo via WINK News

Investigators are looking for the person who shot and killed someone near the Lani Kai on Fort Myers Beach early Wednesday morning.

Right now, family members, as well as the community, are mourning.

Investigators say multiple shots were fired and the suspect is still on the loose.

We could hear the family’s pain, the raw emotion of finding one someone had died on Fort Myers Beach.

“I heard gunfire and I asked my wife if she had heard that. She thought it was just fireworks and then we heard another round of gunfire and I knew immediately it was not fireworks,” said Mike Dunphy.

When he realized it was not fireworks, he bolted the door of the cottage he’s staying in. Then, his phone rang. A friend staying at the Lani Kai called him.

“I thought he was in a nightclub because I heard so much screaming and yelling in the background, so there was a lot of commotion and they just buttoned up their doors and barricaded themselves into the room until they could figure out what was going on,” Dunphy said.

When the sun came up, the Lee County Sheriff’s Office announced four people had gotten into a fight on the sand behind the Lani Kai.

Detectives say one of those people had a gun and shot the other three. Now, one person is dead and the killer is on the run.

Alex Alvarez said the murder rattled him. “Hearing crying and yelling and having to see everyone stare and watch what’s happening, it’s kind of horrible. It’s in public so you can’t not see it,” he said.

“I’m a father of three children and when I see this family so torn up, it really makes me feel like, I can’t imagine what they are going through,” Dunbar said. “You come down here to have a good time in your life changes in a blink of an eye.”

As of Wednesday evening, the sheriff is still not releasing the name of the victim or whether he or she is a local or a visitor.

Detectives are also not saying what, if anything, they’ve learned about the killer since looking at surveillance video and talking with witnesses.

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