Read the story Mom: Warning didn't keep slain son safe at Florida nightclub
FORT MYERS, Fla. (AP) — Stephanie White clutched a stack of photos while sitting in a chair in her home. The television was on, loud, and turned to the local news. A story came on about the mass shooting at a nightclub that took her baby's life.
"My son," said White, tired and dejected Monday afternoon. She waved a hand at the television. "There's another picture of him."
Her son was one of two teenagers killed early Monday at Club Blu, the latest in a string of mass shootings across the nation this summer. With the Orlando massacre at the Pulse nightclub still fresh on her mind, White had advised her 18-year-old on what to do if there was a shooting: "Hit the floor; find a table."
But when gunfire erupted in the parking lot of the Fort Myers club, 18-year-old Stef'an Strawder didn't have anywhere to hide. He was killed along with a 14-year-old boy. Seventeen people ranging in age from 12 to 27 were wounded during the swimsuit-themed party for teens."I told him to look for all the exits if any kind of shooting would go off, to hit the floor, find a table and get out of the way ... because I thought about the people in Orlando. That was a big thing," White told The Associated Press.
Because the shooting happened in the parking lot, "he didn't have that chance," she said.
Florida is again reeling from a mass shooting at a nightclub, but instead of being committed by an extremist spouting Islamist ideology, this rampage may have started with an argument about a rap performance. Police have not yet released a motive.
Monday's shooting was followed by a visit from the governor, makeshift memorials of flowers and prayer vigils.
"It's difficult to understand and difficult to wrap your brain around," said Teresa Furlough, an elementary school teacher and the mother of three children, ages 18, 16 and 15, none of whom were at the club. Furlough attended one of three vigils Monday evening.
"We're pro-life when it comes to certain situations, but we're not pro-life for every situation," she said. "These people didn't respect the sanctity of life."
The shooting at a venue tucked in a strip mall also left 14-year-old Sean Archilles dead, and a state grappling with another tragedy. The massacre at Orlando's Pulse nightclub last month killed 49 patrons and wounded dozens.
Fort Myers interim Police Chief Dennis Eads said the shooting was not an act of terrorism. Police detained three people and were searching for others, he added.
In a news release, officials said they investigated two suspicious vehicles near the club in the aftermath of the shooting; one vehicle fled and led officers on a chase, eventually stopping. Two men ran from the car, the release said, and the driver accelerated toward officers, one of whom shot the man in the abdomen. That man, who was treated and released from a hospital, was charged with aggravated assault on a law enforcement officer and fleeing. Police haven't said whether the men were involved in the shooting.
The chief declined to give a motive for the shooting or discuss details, saying the investigation is ongoing.
The shooting happened about 12:30 a.m. Monday, just as the club was closing and parents were picking up their children.
Security guard Brandy Mclaughlin, who was hired for the event, said she saw someone with a semi-automatic rifle open fire, with the attack sounding like "firecrackers."
"The rapper was upset, someone not being able to perform," she said. "It wasn't targeted, terrorist or gays, or anything like that. It wasn't a black or white situation. It was an idiot. An idiot with a firearm."
Club owner Cheryl Filardi, who said she was in the back room when the shots rang out, said at least 10 security guards were hired for the party — two in the parking lot, one or two at the door and the rest floating inside.
She said the club has had four or five teen parties over the past half-dozen years, and this was the second one this summer. She said the parties are something positive for a rough and often-violent neighborhood.
"To be honest with you, every day someone's getting shot in this area. These days in Lee County, somebody's always shooting," Filardi said. "If we do teen parties, we always have a ton of security and we've never had a problem."
State records show this wasn't the first time violence had broken out at Club Blu.
Department of Business and Professional Regulation records show two separate shootings occurred just outside the club on the same night in May 2015. Two men were each shot in the leg but told police they did not want to press charges.
Although beer posters still hung in its windows, Club Blu's alcohol license was revoked June 7 because of issues related to its business records, regulators said.
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Kennedy reported from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Also contributing were Josh Replogle in Fort Myers; Jennifer Kay and Curt Anderson in Miami and Gary Fineout in Tallahassee.
BUCHI EMECHETA: ONE OF THE AFRICA`S GREATEST WRITERS OF THE CONTEMPORARY TIMES
"Being a woman writer, I would be deceiving myself if I said I write completely through the eye of a man. There's nothing bad in it, but that does not make me a feminist writer. I hate that name. The tag is from the Western world - like we are called the Third World." ~Buchi Emecheta
Africa’s most acclaimed female novelist, children's writer, screenplay writer, and autobiographer. She is the author of Second-Class Citizen (1974), The Bride Price (1976), The Slave Girl (1977) The Joys of Motherhood (1979), Destination Biafra (1982), and Double Yoke (1982)
Florence Onye Buchi Emecheta OBE (born July 21, 1944, Lagos, Nigeria), is one of Africa’s most
acclaimed female novelist, children's writer, screenplay writer, and autobiographer. The Britain-based writer, Buchi who is from the highly workaholic, resourceful, intelligent, creative cum intellectual ethnic Anioma people -a sub-group of the larger ndi-Igbo ethnic group in Nigeria, is among the most important female authors to emerge from post-colonial Africa.
Emecheta was married at age 16 and immigrated with her husband to London in 1962. The problems she encountered in London during the early 1960s provided background for the books that are called her immigrant novels. It has been said that "of all the women writers in contemporary African literature Buchi Emecheta of Nigeria has been the most sustained and vigorous voice of direct feminist protest (Lloyd Wellesley Brown, Women Writers in Black Africa (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1981). While the genesis of African and Nigerian women’s literature began with Flora Nwapa, second generation Nigerian woman writer Buchi Emecheta’s works have created a milestone in African literature. Buchi Emecheta’s life is as exemplarily as her resilient, strong womanist characters.
Nigerian Women In Italy Caught Prostituting In The Forest Under Very Bad Conditions
makeshift atmosphere of the sex camps represents a clear sense that the economic and social crises are degrading the condition of everyday life for a vast range of people in many parts of the world and that the global elites’ answers to these crises cannot provide any solutions, regulations or reprieve in the near future. When Nigerians began migrating to Italy in the mid-1980s, they were one of the first communities from developing countries that were attracted by Italy’s demand for low-skilled labour. Constrained by stringent border controls, many were pushed to take illegal routes to the country and adopt professions that are less than safe.
The underground economy attracted immigrant workers providing them jobs without regulations. In a market strongly segmented by gender, age, educational qualifications and population shortages with immigrants, problems are worsened by a political system and public opinion where xenophobia is widespread. As men remained at work in the fields of the southern regions of Italy where organised crime thrives, and the line between legitimate and illegal enterprises is often blurred, the first Nigerian women began to independently work as prostitutes.
For over 20 years, the women of Benin City, a town in the state of Edo in the
south-central part of Nigeria, have traveled to Italy to work in the sex trade. Every year, successful ones recruit younger girls to follow in their steps. Most migrant women, including those who end up in the sex industry, have made a clear decision to leave home and take their chances overseas. They are headstrong and ambitious women who migrate in order to escape conflict, persecution, environmental degradation, natural disasters, and other situations that affect their habitat and livelihood.The success of many Italos, as these women are called, is evident in Edo, partly in the form of grand houses built with remittances, therefore for many girls prostitution in Italy has become an entirely acceptable trade. They have chosen a variety of ways to exploit their personal assets. These range from being erotic dancers, to real contact work of varying levels of intimacy.
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE NIGERIAN PROSTITUTES IN THE FOREST
CLICK HERE TO VIEW PHOTOS OF THE NIGERIAN PROSTITUTES IN THE FOREST
Why I starved, chained my son – CCC Pastor
Lagos – A Celestial Church of Christ Pastor, Francis Taiwo who allegedly starved and chained his nine-year-old son for months in Ogun state has been arrested by the Police for prosecution.
The 40-year-old pastor was apprehended by the police on Sunday at his church CCC, Key of Joy Parish, Ajibawo village, Atan, in the Ado-Odo/Ota Local Government Area of Ogun State.
According to Police sources, the alleged Pastor may be charged with attempted murder, among other offences, after the completion of investigation, saying “The pastor may be charged with attempted murder. His action was capable of killing the boy”.
Korede was rescued on Friday during a joint operation by the Nigeria Security and Civil Defence Corps and the police, after receiving a tip-off from residents of the area, while the boy’s stepmother, Kehinde, had also been arrested for allegedly aiding the cruelty meted out to the him.
Korede, who said he aspired to be a doctor, had blamed his father for his stealing habit, saying “It is true that I stole a pot of soup and a bowl of eba in our house. I also stole in the neighbourhood. My father’s inability to give money to my stepmother for the upkeep of the family caused it. When I was chained, my father and stepmother fed me twice a day. Some days, I was not given any food. I want to go back to school because I want to be a doctor in the future. I do not want to go back to my father’s house”.
It was also leant that Francis, a father of five who hails from Benin Republic, confessed to the act in his statement to the police, adding that Korede’s mother was late.
He said, “I was ordained a pastor in the CCC in 2012. I had divorced two wives, including Korede’s mother, Maria; she is late now. She had four children for me, two boys and two girls before she divorced me in 2007 after she gave birth to Korede. I chained Korede because he is possessed. An evil spirit makes him to steal. He needs deliverance. His siblings are not living with me.”
One of the residents who informed the Police about the atrocity hinted that Francis had been warned on several occasions against unleashing violence on the victim.
According to him, “His father has been chaining him for the past six months. He would chain him for hours and release him. His grouse is that Korede steals and runs away from home and he thinks a spirit is controlling the child. He once took him to a river in chains for deliverance.”
The Ogun State police spokesperson, SP Muyiwa Adejobi who confirmed the story added “The case has been transferred to the Anti-Human Trafficking and Child Labour Unit of the command for necessary investigation and actions as directed by the Assistant Inspector-General of Police in charge of zone 2, AIG Abdulmajid Ali,” he said.
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