FORT MYERS, Fla. -- It has now been a year since twelve young people were shot outside of what used to be Club Blu. Two people died that day, Sean Archilles and Seff'fan Strawder. FOX4 wanted to find out if things have changed and look into if there are more productive ways for kids to spend their time during the dog days of summer.
"Two people just got shot recently and there was just a shooting like two days ago so I don't feel like anything has changed. There's still a lot of shooting going on," said Antavia Hernandez, a student at Cypress Lake High School.
Hernandez, who knew Sean Archilles is spending her summer working at the Fort Myers Police Department. She says in the year since he's died, things haven't changed, nor have the petty reasons behind a lot of the city's shootings.
"The kids look up to the adults and the adults are doing it right and they're like, if he did it, I can do it," says Javis Herring. Herring was another friend of Sean's. "His laugh would make you laugh like he's that type of person. If he laughs, its just so funny."
He feels his neighborhood is split with kids going in two different directions. "The kids that want to make change, they be in the programs, they tryna' make change but the kids that don't, they go out and smoke drugs do whatever, sell drugs whatever, steal cars whatever and they don't want to change they want to make money quick, fast."
Keith White is Stef'fan Strawder's uncle. He runs the Stars Complex, a rec center for kids. "These courts can change their mindset and give them something positive to do," White says. He believes more programs could have prevented the shooting that took his nephew one year ago. "Club Blu would be eliminated because that same show they were putting on could have been a show we did here with a positive spin."
