The gunman involved in a shooting inside Fort Lauderdale's Blue Martini nightclub that left a man dead is a retired DEA agent, police confirmed Thursday.
The shooter, 52-year-old Andre Clark, has not been charged in the May 8 death of 43-year-old Arnold Person, who was fatally shot inside the club just minutes before his 44th birthday.
Fort Lauderdale Police Maj. Frank Sousa said detectives were still in the process of obtaining a statement from Clark, and would give the case over to the state attorney's office.
"We are currently awaiting for him and his attorney to come in and provide our homicide investigators with the statement as to what actually occurred that evening," Sousa said. "Upon receiving that statement, we’re going to go ahead and complete our criminal investigation. That’s eventually going to get forwarded over to the Broward County state attorneys office and they will be the ones who ultimately will make the decision on whether or not charges are going to be filed in this case."
In a statement Thursday, an attorney for Clark said the early accounts of what happened are not accurate, and said no arrests were made "for good reason."
"When the dust settles, it will be clear that Andre was not the aggressor and that he acted in self-defense," attorney Jeffrey Neiman said in a statement.
Officials said the shooting began as an altercation inside the club shortly before midnight. It was ladies night at the bar and witnesses said the place was packed when the gunshots rang out. Another man, Person's brother-in-law, was injured in the incident.
At a news conference Thursday, family members of Person and their attorney said he was at the club as part of a celebration for a family member who had recently died of cancer.
"I'm shocked at how many times my brother got shot. I feel like he wanted murder to shoot that many rounds. I’m angry and trying to stay strong," sister Natasha Cooks said.
