Former employee at Naples resort speaks on murder-suicide involving employees

Published: Updated:
Lea este artículo en Noticias WINK
Investigation at Port of the Islands Resort (CREDIT: WINK News)

What should have been a festive New Year’s Eve, ended in gunfire at a Naples resort.

According to Collier County Sheriff’s Office, at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday, a gunman once employed at the Port of the Islands Resort entered the lobby and shot a hotel employee.

The employee died of their injuries.

Collier County Sheriff’s Office responded and immediately evacuated the hotel.

Then, deputies searched the facility and area around it, utilizing resources like aviation and a drone.

Deputies found the shooter dead in a hotel office of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound.

A former employee asked WINK News not to show his name or face, but said he was texting with resort staff, who moments before, became witnesses to the deadly shooting.

“They told me exactly who did it, who was killed,” said the former employee.

The man said the shooter was a former employee who lost their management role.

The victim, he said, was a young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Detectives have not named the victim or suspect. The former employee WINK News spoke to says otherwise.

“I mean… I’m heartbroken for the parents,” said the former employee. “You know, I mean it’s, sad because the kid was in the military. He did everything right. You know? He was about to turn a corner and have a good life, and then all the sudden some crazy person comes and takes his life.”

The former employee said he knew the shooter.

Asked what kind of person he was, the employee did not hold back.

“I just thought he was unstable from the get-go,” said the former employee, “Yeah, I mean he was posting all kind of crazy stuff on Nextdoor, and there’s even other posts that were deleted that he posted.”

Some of those posts, the former employee said, focused on the hotel and its owner.

However, the sheriff’s office has yet to release the suspect’s name or a possible motive. The victim also remains unnamed.

No one with the resort will answer phone calls or emails about where the guests were taken after the fact.

The resort remains closed, Monday, and there’s no word on when it will reopen.

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.