NEWS

Family mourns 14-year-old boy killed in Fort Myers club shooting

BEN BRASCH
BBRASCH@NEWS-PRESS.COM
Jean Robert Archilles reacts, while speaking about the death of his son, Shawn Archilles,14,.  Archilles was killed in a mass shooting at Club Blu in Fort Myers.

The sound of a mother's grief occasionally broke the silence as mourners gathered at her home along the 2200 block of Jackson Street Monday morning.

Hours earlier, Sean Archilles, 14, was shot and killed outside Club Blu in Fort Myers as revelers were leaving a teen night event around 12:30 a.m. Stef'An Strawder, 18, also died from a gunshot wound while 17 others were wounded.

Jean Robert Archilles said he heard the news about his son from the boy's mother, who called him between midnight and 1 a.m.

Then he got another call from police: "Sorry to hear that your son passed away."

"I can't believe it," Archilles said early Monday with tears in his eyes.

Club Blu shooting in Fort Myers: What we know now

The boy's mother twice declined to comment to The News-Press at her home, but many came by her home to pay their respects and one group of teens visited with red flowers.

Archilles said he can't imagine why anyone would kill his son, an eighth grader at the Royal Palm Exceptional School, or why the shooting started.

"I don't know like what a 14-year-old can do to someone," he said. "Some of his friends got shot, too."

Archilles said his son loved sports — playing for the High Hoops youth basketball organization, and he played youth football for the Fort Myers Junior Firecats about three years ago, said Amber Smith, president of the organization. Smith declined to give further information.

Lisa Laurent, 18, an Archilles family friend, said she was sleeping when she got the call about the shooting from a friend who's brother was hit.

"I had to work today. Didn't know this party was going to happen," she said.

"We grew up together," Laurent said of Sean. "He had a twin, Desean."

Adline Azemard, Sean's cousin, said she sometimes works at the club as security for adult events.

"I didn't know they had kid parties," she said.

Royal Palm principal Robert Morretti released a statement about the boy's death: "The staff and students at Royal Palm School were deeply saddened to learn of the death of Sean Archilles. Sean was the kind of young man who could brighten any room with his outgoing personality and contagious smile. He was a friend to all and will be deeply missed by his Royal Palm family."

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