A woman who fatally shot a man during a dispute over a parking space at a North Lauderdale Walmart back in June won’t face charges, Broward prosecutors said Thursday.
Melissa Payne shot and killed Bart DiGuglielmo during the June 30 encounter outside the store at 7900 W. McNab Road, authorities said.
According to a Broward State Attorney’s Office memo released Thursday, Payne and DiGuglielmo got into a dispute over a parking space that ended with her shooting him in the abdomen.
DiGuglielmo, 62, was taken to a local hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Family PhotoFamily Photo
Bart Diguglielmo
Payne was detained by authorities and released after saying she’d acted in self-defense.
Witnesses said they heard DiGuglielmo threaten Payne and Payne tell her not to come near her car, the memo said.
But the key evidence in the incident was surveillance video and cellphone footage that showed how the encounter unfolded.
Prosecutors wrote in the memo that the video showed DiGuglielmo continue to “aggressively approach” Payne even as she had a gun in her hand.
Under Florida’s so-called “Stand Your Ground” law, Payne had the right to stand her ground if she was in reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm, and prosecutors can’t prove that her fear of harm wasn’t reasonable, the memo said.
“The video does not demonstrate that [Payne] was in the right, rather it demonstrates that the State of Florida cannot overcome her claim that she was in reasonable fear of great bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence,” the memo said. “Florida is a Stand Your Ground State. [Payne] did not have to wait to be attacked before resorting to deadly force. She did not have to retreat as long as her fear was reasonable and no evidence has been presented to disprove that.”