Neighborhood Discount Supermarket robbery

The Neighborhood Discount Supermarket is a mom-and-pop shop that’s served its Fort Myers community for years. Customers drop by for a pack of cigarettes, a gallon of milk or a bag of chips. “They’re real, real good people,” Bob Ward, 55, said of the owners, David R. and Nancy Hutto, and the people who help them run the store. The store manager had the right to defend himself when two masked, gun-toting teenagers tried to rob him Sunday, Ward and others said. One suspect, 16-year-old Damione Massey, of 5047 Centennial Blvd. in Lehigh Acres, was shot in the head and died, face down, in front of the counter. The second suspect, 14-year-old Devon Gallagher, also of 5047 Centennial Blvd., fled, wounded.It was not known whether the two suspects were related.The pair had a sawed-off shotgun and a handgun when they entered the store at 2130 Ford St. shortly before 12:24 p.m. and shot at the manager, said Fort Myers police Detective Sgt. Bill Musante.The manager fired back with a pistol, police said.The manager, whose name wasn’t released, wasn’t hurt, police said. Gallagher was found a short time later at Lehigh Medical Center after police issued an alert to hospitals about a man with a gunshot wound.He was taken to Lee Memorial Hospital, said police spokeswoman Shelly Flynn said. His condition wasn’t released Sunday.Gallagher could face charges of felony murder because someone died during the commission of a felony, Flynn said.Teen crime increases after school lets out for the summer, Musante said.“It’s idle time,” Musante said. “This is an extreme form of what they choose to do with it.”Sawed-off shotguns and other weapons are readily available on the streets, and children get their hands on them through burglaries as well, he said.It’s unclear whether other employees or customers were in the store at the time of the robbery.The Huttos have owned the store for many years, neighbors said and Lee County property records confirmed.The Huttos didn’t answer telephone calls to their home Sunday night. Pat Clark, 49, said she’s known the Huttos all her life and they are great people.“I’m glad they didn’t get hurt,” Clark said as she stood by police cars Sunday afternoon. “They gave my 95-year-old grandma a cake and flowers for her birthday.”Standing in front of the yellow crime-scene tape Sunday afternoon, Musante agreed with those residents who said the manager did nothing wrong in defending himself.“The bad guys lost,” Musante said. “We recommend you don’t resist, but if you choose to do so, that’s your right.”The shooting happened in Dunbar, a community east of downtown Fort Myers that has seen murders and drug-related shootings, despite efforts by police and residents to attack crime there and to clean up the streets. The attempted store robbery was the second shooting in less than 11 hours Sunday in Fort Myers.A man was found with a gunshot wound to his neck shortly before 3:32 a.m. at an apartment complex at 4100 Edgewood Ave., northeast of Ford Street off Palm Beach Boulevard.“Somebody is always robbing somebody and shooting them around here,” said Haven Weech, who’s 13 and lives near the market. “It doesn’t bother me because it happens a lot.”

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