Three victims recovering from Tuesday's shooting in Golden Gate

Yellow police tape still litters the yard and dried blood stains the driveway of the home at 1751 46th St. S.W. in Golden Gate where three men were shot Tuesday evening. A child’s red tricycle sits just inches from the blood.

The Collier County Sheriff’s Office on Wednesday morning identified the Golden Gate men who were shot as Roosevelt Baptiste, 22, of 4850 Whistlers Green Circle; Louis Forges, 40, of 1751 46th St. S.W.; and Sonny Forges, whose age and address were not identified in the police report.

A scuffle ensued outside the home at about 8:24 p.m. Tuesday. Witnesses reported a chaotic scene where men with bats and clubs, and one man with a shotgun, were fighting.

The three victims were wounded from birdshot fired from a shotgun.

No arrests have been made in the case and the Sheriff’s Office has not publicly identified any suspects.

“We have spoken to several people and will continue to speak to people as long as we’re getting information,” said Kristin Adams, a spokeswoman for the Collier County Sheriff’s Office.

Baptiste was shot in his back and was transported with injuries that were not life threatening via helicopter to Lee Memorial Hospital. His current condition is unknown, the Sheriff’s Office reported.

Sonny Forges was struck with a few pellets and was treated at Naples Community Hospital and released. Louis Forges was struck with one pellet and refused medical treatment.

Tuesday night, a sheriff’s spokeswoman said another man had been taken to Physicians Regional Medical Center, formerly Cleveland Clinic, but there was no word Wednesday of his identity or condition.

Jackson Felix, 28, who lives in the home at 1751 46th St. S.W. with Louis Forges, said Forges, who is his cousin, was home and doing fine. Forges would not come to the door to comment.

Felix, who originally is from Haiti, said two carloads of black American men approached the house Tuesday night and stated they wanted to fight another of Felix’s cousins who was there. The men apparently were angry at his cousin, who had filed a police report against them for beating him up in an earlier confrontation, he said.

Felix said he did not know the men.

“I tried to go to them,” Felix said. “I said, ‘Everything’s cool.’ Why do they want to fight?”

That’s when he said one of the men pulled out the shotgun and started firing, Felix said.

After being shot, Baptiste collapsed in the driveway, Felix said.

“He said, ‘Man, I don’t feel good. I feel like I’m going to die,’” Felix said. “He was saying, ‘Can you get me a pillow, please?’”

Felix said he and his cousins are not in a gang, and he considers his family to be good neighbors.

“It’s not a gang fight, I can say that,” Felix said.

Bernice Fuller, who lives at the end of the block, said she has lived in the neighborhood for four years and has never had a problem. She said she thinks Tuesday night’s shooting was probably an isolated incident and said she isn’t concerned for her own safety.

“I don’t feel threatened in any kind of way,” Fuller said. “I’m sorry that it happened and I pray that we can all get along.”