Fort Myers police search Ramsey Way preschool after driver flees

Fort Myers police taped off part of a shopping plaza on Ramsey Way and searched a preschool after a driver ran from a traffic stop, and everyone inside the school was found safe

Money & World

The Editorial Team · August 7, 2026

A close photograph of a length of yellow barrier tape printed with the words DO NOT ENTER in black capitals, strung taut through the bare stems of a hedge with green ivy and small red leaves behind it. No agency name, place name or building appears anywhere in the frame and no location can be identified from it. A generic illustration of a cordon, not a photograph of the Ramsey Way plaza, of Fort Myers or of this police response.

Photo: Ellie Burgin / Pexels

What it changes

Anyone near the shopping plaza in the 5200 block of Ramsey Way in Fort Myers this evening, off United States 41 by Sam's Club, will have seen a large police presence and part of the plaza taped off, and now has the explanation. According to the Fort Myers Police Department, as reported by WINK News, the sequence began with an attempted traffic stop. Police say the driver ran. Investigators believed the person might have gone into a childcare centre on the property, so staff moved the children out of the building while officers searched inside it. The single most important fact for any parent reading this is the one police have confirmed: everyone inside the centre was safe, and the search found nobody in the building. What is still open is the person. The department has not said who it is looking for, has not confirmed that the person ever actually entered the building, has not given a reason for the attempted stop in the first place, and has not said where the person is now. The investigation is described as ongoing. That is genuinely all that has been released, and this brief does not fill any of those gaps with speculation. It matters to say plainly that no one has been named and no one has been charged. Everything above is an account given by the police department about a person it has not identified, and nothing in it establishes that any individual did anything. The practical read for residents is narrow. If you are heading to that plaza tonight, expect a cordon and expect to be turned away from part of it. If your child was at the centre, the department's position is that the children were moved out as a precaution and were not found to be in contact with anyone. Beyond that, the honest answer is that the picture will not be complete until the department says more, and this desk will carry the update when it does rather than guess at it now. One limit worth stating: this rests on a single outlet, WINK News, which had a crew on scene. The police department has issued no written release of its own that this desk could find, and no other newsroom appears to have picked it up yet.

Fort Myers police cordoned off part of a shopping plaza in the 5200 block of Ramsey Way on Thursday evening and searched a childcare centre on the property after a driver ran from an attempted traffic stop.

Everyone inside the centre was safe, police said, and the search of the building found nobody.

According to the Fort Myers Police Department, as reported by WINK News, officers tried to stop a vehicle and the driver fled on foot. Investigators believed the person might have gone into the childcare centre, which sits in the plaza off United States 41 near Sam's Club. Staff moved the children out of the building while officers went through it.

Police confirmed no one was found inside.

The department has not identified the person it is looking for, has not confirmed that the person ever entered the building, has not given a reason for the attempted stop, and has not said where the person is now. It describes the investigation as ongoing.

No one has been named and no one has been charged. Everything above is the police department's account of a person it has not identified, and nothing in it establishes that any individual did anything.

The report is by Miyoshi Price of the WINK News digital team, which had a crew at the scene. This desk could find no written release from the Fort Myers Police Department on the incident and no other outlet carrying it, so this is a single account from one newsroom of what the department told it.

There is no weather condition bearing on this. The National Weather Service had no watch, warning or advisory in effect for Lee or Collier County when this was written.

Where we read it: Miyoshi Price at WINK News. Read their story.

The document: No public filing has been released.

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