17-year-old dies in shooting at Coastland Center mall

NAPLES, Fla.- A 17-year-old died after being shot in the jaw while in a car at the Coastland Center mall, the Naples Police Department said Tuesday.

The shooting happened Monday evening at a parking garage by the Macy’s department store.

Police say 17-year-old Thomas Lane, a senior at Lorenzo Walker Technical High School, was showing his friends a 9 mm, semi-automatic handgun when he may have accidentally shot himself.

It is unknown where the teenager got the weapon, police said.

Three other people, including two teenagers, were in the car at the time, police said. Police recovered the gun and questioned witnesses for hours while the garage was roped off.

Lane was transported to Naples Community Hospital where he later died.

“Sweet, nice kid and I’m so sorry for them,” said Kelli Karavas, describing the teen who was her neighbor. “He adored his little sister, all of his sisters and his parents. Everybody around here loved him.”

Grief counselors were available at the high school Tuesday to help Lane’s fellow students as family and friends remember the teen whose life ended far too soon.

“He was just a beautiful, beautiful boy and he had the world at his feet.”

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