Club Blu: Sean Archilles 'didn’t deserve to die that way'

A chorus of Creole echoed from Delina Lubin’s Jackson Street porch.

While men and women chattered away, Lubin sat in a solitary chair off to the side. She isn’t ready to speak about the loss of her 14-year-old son, Sean Archilles. Her family stepped in to give voice to her pain.

Archilles and 18-year-old Stef’An Strawder were killed amid a hail of bullets that also injured at least 17 others during a shooting at Fort Myers’ Club Blu on Evans Avenue early Monday morning.

“We flip back and forth,” said Archilles’ aunt, Nadege Pierre, describing the changes in mood at the home. “We never thought this would happen.”

Containers of food brought by friends were piled on a table in the living room. It’s Haitian custom for family and friends to visit in times of grief, Pierre said. They will likely keep coming until the funeral, planned for Aug. 6 at CityGate Ministries, Archilles’ church.

“We come by truckloads,” the 34-year-old said jokingly.

“That triggers something,” Pierre said. “This is real. A house full of people – they are here to visit because my nephew died.”

The family was allowed to see his body Tuesday.

“He looked like he was sleeping … but he didn’t wake up,” she said.

A caretaker at the morgue told Pierre her nephew’s body was so riddled with bullet holes he couldn’t count them.

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It still hurts

Nineteen-year-old John Francois still expects his brother, Archilles, to walk through the front door.

“It still hasn’t really hit me,” Francois said. “It still hurts.”

Archilles wished Francois a happy Father’s Day this year.

“I thought he was kidding," Francois said. "But, he told me 'You are my role model.' That’s what I’ve been striving for.”

Archilles was a “very outgoing kid, loud, always smiling,” Francois said.

He had some trouble when his mother and father separated which led to problems at school, Pierre said. But she knew the eighth-grader at the Royal Palm Exceptional School would grow out of it.

“When it came to his family, there was nothing he wouldn’t do for this family,” she said. “He wasn’t the best kid. He was bad at times, but he was still a kid, and he didn’t deserve to die that way. He did not deserve the way I seen him die. It was not right.”

Archilles was a passionate basketball player who enjoyed trash-talking his opponents, including his 15-year-old brother Dsean Archilles. He made others laugh on the court, Francois said.

“Sean had the better defense, but Dsean had the better offense,” Francois said. “It was the game to watch.”

Anger is for the weak

Pierre said she doesn't expect anyone to be charged with the crime because in Fort Myers, no one talks.

"If they even get charged and they happen to get a sentence, it still won't bring back how he died," she said.

Franciois agreed.

"Putting them in jail won't take our pain away," he said.

Pierre tried to rationalize her nephew’s death.

“Maybe it’s a lesson,” she said. “I was at the morgue, and I was sitting there, and I was thinking, maybe it’s a lesson.”

Maybe Archilles' death will save someone else’s life.

“It’s a wake-up call,” Francois said. “Sean would have wanted us to accomplish all of our goals.

“Be happy. Sean would have wanted for all of us to be happy.”

Is he angry?

“I always like to say anger is for the weak,” Francois said.

“God doesn’t make mistakes.”

Teen tragedy: Fort Myers club shooting leaves a city in pain