Deputies searching for person in connection with Fort Myers Beach shooting

Reporter: Breana Ross Writer: Jackie Winchester
Published: Updated:
Lee County deputies on Tuesday released a photo of two people they believe may know something about Monday’s shooting on Fort Myers Beach. (Credit: SWFL Crime Stoppers)

Lee County deputies on Tuesday released a photo of two people they believe might know something about Monday’s shooting on Fort Myers Beach.

The beach was crowded on Memorial Day when bullets flew during a fight, sending people scrambling for cover. It happened beachside in the area of Wicked Wings Beach Bar & Grill and Hooters.

After a chaotic afternoon Monday, it was business as usual Tuesday.

“It’s a different beach with the holiday over,” said Robb Davis, who was visiting the beach Monday when his relaxing day took a turn.

“Kids just making a lot of noise, then all of a sudden people kind of taking off and pouring off the beach,” he recalled.

“I kind of got out of here after that. I wasn’t trying to be in the middle of it.”

Video shows several people involved in a fight before a man pulls out a gun. Moments later, a shot is heard, but it isn’t clear if that shot came from the man with the gun or from someone else.

A man said he saw a group of people punching his nephew, and when he stepped in to stop it, a guy pulled out a gun, pointed it at him, and fired several times but missed.

The person who pulled the trigger is still out there. Deputies on Tuesday released an image showing a man pointing a gun and another man just behind him. Both were wanted for questioning. Investigators confirmed the second person was never a suspect in the case and was successfully spoken to by investigators gathering information.

“Just to do that in front of so many peopleā€¦ Yeah, it’s scary,” said visitor Sandra Kotrba.

“I mean, what if it hit, well, not just us, but anybody.”

Another visitor, Mary Ann Wiecowsk, said, “It’s scary and it just goes to show that it doesn’t matter where you are. There’s like no safe haven, there’s no safe place.

Mayor Ray Murphy said Fort Myers Beach is supposed to be a safe place.

“That’s not the image that we portray so anytime something like that happens, of course we are concerned about it and its negative connotations for the beach down here.”

He hopes deputies find the shooter – fast.

“If the guy will pull a gun and try to shoot someone on the beach, he will try to do that anywhere so they want him off the streets badly and so do we.”

Anyone who recognizes the man holding what looks like a gun in the below photo released Tuesday or knows anything about the shooting is asked to call Southwest Florida Crime Stoppers at 800-780-TIPS.

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