Testimony continues in Club Blu defendant trial

Emotions poured out of the courtroom during the second day of testimony in the trial of Kierra Russ.

Russ is one of five defendants accused of participating in a shooting at Club Blu in 2016 that killed Stef’An Strawder, 18, and 14-year-old Sean Archilles. Awaiting trial are Tajze Battle, Derrick Church, Don Loggins and Demetrius O’Neal.

Fourteen witnesses took the stand on Thursday and told their stories about what they recalled from the night of the shooting.

None of those stories included Russ’s name.

Marjorie Resto cannot forget that night.

“Everybody was dancing and a little rowdy? Not, not too bad,” Resto said.

She didn’t work at the club but she was there to help the owner.

At 11 o’clock sharp she flipped the lights on and turned the music off and told everyone the party was over.

“I took it upon myself to do that,” Resto said. “I wasn’t ordered to do that or anything I just, at 11 o’clock teenagers, or at least I thought, shouldn’t be in an environment after 11.”

Resto said many of the teenagers who packed the club didn’t like the early end to the evening.

She told the jury they yelled and argued.

As soon as she went outside she saw a blue car drive by.

That’s when the gunshots started.

She ran inside, she said.

Jeremy Hawkins, who has worked with Fort Myers police for almost 18 years, said people were screaming and driving around and through the parking lot to flee.

He was among one of the many officers who raced to Club Blu after the call came in.

Hawkins said Club Blu was the largest mass casualty event he has ever responded to. About 14 others were injured in the shooting.