Gunman sought in deadly ZombiCon shooting

Melissa Montoya, Ben Brasch, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press, and John Bacon, USA TODAY | Gannett

Show Caption Hide Caption ZombiCon shooting leaves 1 dead, 4 injured One person was killed and four others were hurt when gunfire erupted during ZombiCon festivities in Fort Myers, Florida.

FORT MYERS, Fla. — A manhunt was underway Sunday after a shooting rampage at a zombie-themed festival left one person dead, five wounded and pandemonium on downtown streets.

The wounded victims at ZombiCon on Saturday night were hospitalized with non-life threatening injuries, according to police Lt. Victor Medico.

The shooting was the second instance of gunfire downtown within a week.

ZombiCon, an annual event in its ninth year, was expected to draw more than 20,000 people.

There were "a lot of witnesses down here, there were a lot of people taking pictures, videos with their cellphone," Medico said. "Anything that could help with this investigation would be greatly appreciated."

The shots began at 11:45 p.m., he said. Chaos reigned as crowds from ZombiCon raced through De Leon Plaza.

Jill Stancel, who works at a downtown barbershop, was selling water to Zombicon attendees when she heard the shots and saw people running.

"I was right here," she said. "A mass of people ran screaming and trying to get in the shop."

Stancel said she and others pulled her husband and another relative into the store, ran to the back of the shop and locked the door. They let eight to 10 people in. "They were standing in the back shaking and crying."

"We didn't know if it was real or fake," Haley Delmonte of Naples told WBBH-TV. "Heard gunshots right in front of me. Saw people running and my mind was everywhere. It was so scary. We ran, then we were like wait ... was that real?"

Killed was Expavious Tyrell Taylor, 20, of Okeechobee.

Organizer: We're 'devastated' over ZombiCon shooting A spokesperson for ZombiCon fought back tears as she talked about a deadly shooting at the Fort Myers event. Angeli Chin says she is "heartbroken" and "completely devastated" by the incident.

Pushing DaiZies, Inc., organizers of the event, published a statement on Facebook expressing sadness for "what happened within the footprint" of their festival.

"We take the safety of our patrons very seriously and take precautions in hiring security and police officers," the statement said. "Our prayers go out to the family members and individuals involved in the incident."

Skye Tobias commented on the post, saying she was near the gunfire.

"Heard gunshots right in front of me," Tobias said. "Saw people running and my mind was everywhere. It was so scary."

Some patrons of the event questioned the security measures.

"They patted me down and weren't going to let me bring fake handcuffs in but they let some guy walk in with a gun?! Just stupid," commented Joelle Faith Filippone-Greaves.

Minutes after the shooting, police strung crime scene tape across the entrance to the plaza and started clearing bars and downtown streets. Officers with rifles patrolled the streets around the crime scene and ordered people milling around to clear the area.

The Lee County Sheriff's Office set up a command center nearby and deputies assisted Fort Myers police officers in dispersing the ZombiCon crowd.

Fort Myers Mayor Randall Henderson said Saturday's shooting would speed up plans to install video surveillance cameras downtown. "Sadly, we're moving in that direction. We need to be way more vigilant to keep citizens safe," he said.

Plans were already underway, Henderson said. "This will speed up the progress."

The shooting took place across the street from Ford's Garage, a hamburger bar. Kathy Parsley, director of operations for Kearn's Restaurant Group, which owns Ford's and several other downtown restaurants, confirmed that they operate surveillance cameras. She said footage from those cameras had been given to police.

Henderson called the shootings random and said there was little to be done to get out in front of such crimes.

"I think our greater focus is to take steps to tighten up our opportunity to catch the bad guys and put them away forever," he said.

Taylor, the lone fatality, was listed as a student at ASA College, a junior college in Miami. He attended high school in Clewiston, Fla., about an hour's drive east of Fort Myers. His former high school football coach, Pete Walker, said Taylor was living with an aunt and a grandmother in Okeechobee. Wakler said Taylor was "trying to make something of himself" after losing both parents as a teenager. "It's a terrible, terrible, terrible thing to swallow."

He added, "It's a tragic story of a young person losing his life over not a whole lot."

Bacon reported from McLean, Va. ​Contributing: Michael Braun, The (Fort Myers, Fla.) News-Press