FORT MYERS, Fla. — It’s been almost 10 years since a mass shooting outside Club Blu left two teenagers dead. Now, another suspect is on trial.
“Before Mr. O’Neal can figure out what’s going on, bam bam bam bam is what he hears next, and he has no choice but to jump out of the car before he’s murdered by the same people who swore to protect and serve him.” That’s how attorneys for Demetrius O’Neal described the chaos of that night — claiming he wasn’t the shooter, wasn’t even at the club, and was not the driver involved in a high speed chase afterwards. They claim O'Neal is being blamed for something he didn’t do.
FOX 4 senior reporter Emily Young was in court for opening statements, Monday:
But prosecutors told a different story — one rooted in gang violence, high school rivalries, and a deadly confrontation that played out in July 2016.
“Two boys, Stef'an Strawder and Shawn Archilles, were murdered, shot and killed at Club Blu — a nightclub in the city of Fort Myers during a teen event. Why? Because two different groups of people didn’t like each other.”
The state said O’Neal was part of a gang called "One Way", and knew members of a rival gang — the "Bottom Boys" — would be at the club that night.
O’Neal showed up at Club Blu for a confrontation, and two innocent boys, unrelated to either of these gangs, lost their lives that night. The state also claimed several of the guns used in the shooting are tied to O’Neal through data found on his phone.
“The videos located on the defendant’s phone link them to all three of those guns," the state attorney said.
And prosecutors didn’t mince words about what they’re asking the jury to do:
“The state will ask that you return the only verdict that is supported by the evidence in this case, and that is that the defendant is guilty.”
Meanwhile, the defense team argued there’s no hard evidence placing O’Neal at the scene, and no one will testify that he fired a weapon:
“What they’ll never be able to tell you is that Demetrius O'Neal held a gun that night. They’re never going to tell you that he shot a gun that night. They’re not going to present one single witness that will tell you that Demetrius O’Neal was at Club Blu that night.”
