Florida shooting: The 14-year-old with a contagious smile who was shot dead at a disco

A 14-year-old boy has been named as the second victim of a fatal mass shooting at a teenage disco in Florida that left two dead and at least 16 more injured.

Sean Archilles, a student at Royal Palm Exceptional School who was due to enter the eighth grade, was shot while attending the Club Blu beach party in Fort Myers as gunfire rang out while parents came to pick their children up from the event.

Sixteen others – including children as young as 12 – were shot in the attack, which was not linked with terrorism, Fort Myers Police confirmed.

Sean's devastated father, Jean Archilles, said his son loved to play football and basketball, News Press reported, and his school described him as outgoing with a contagious smile.

"I don't know what a 14-year-old can do to someone," Archilles said, adding the police had called him to offer their condolences at the death of his son.

Another teenager, 18-year-old basketball prospect Stefan Strawder, was named as the other person to be shot dead at the club night. He was a student at Lehigh Senior School and had a promising future as an athlete ahead of him.

Police confirmed they had held three people in connection with the shooting, while they are still searching for other persons of interest.

The club said in a statement on its Facebook page: "We are deeply sorry for all involved. We tried to give the teens WHAT WE THOUGHT WAS A SAFE PLACE TO HAVE A GOOD TIME. Ages 12-17.

"There was armed security as well as full security, inside and out. As the club was closing and parents were picking their children up..... that's when all this took place. There was nothing more we could of done as you see it was not kids at the party that did this despicable act. Our condolences to all parties involved."

Young people fled the area in an attempt to escape the bullets during the attack, with the mother of one teenage girl at the scene telling Fox4Now that her daughter fled from the gunman and hid behind cars to avoid bullets.

"I just thank God my daughter is ok because she could have been shot. Her dodging bullets and running dropping between cars – it's ridiculous that these kids have to go through this, they can't enjoy themselves because you have other people that have criminal, sadistic minds and they just want to terrorise things. I'm just glad she's ok," Syreeta Gary said, adding that her daughter's friend had been shot in the legs as the pair ran away.

It is the second mass shooting in Florida recently, following the deadliest shooting in recent US history when LGBT nightclub Pulse in Orlando was targeted by gunman Omar Mateen, who shot dead 49 people, and wounded 53 others.