<\/p>\n
Still footage from a cellphone video shows Melissa Payne holding a gun moments before she fatally shot Bart DiGuglielmo on June 30, 2026, in a North Lauderdale Walmart parking lot.<\/p>\n
Broward County State Attorney\u2019s Office<\/p>\n
Broward County prosecutors are not charging a woman who shot and killed a man in a North Lauderdale Walmart parking lot<\/a> in June because they say her actions fell within Florida\u2019s Stand Your Ground self-defense law.<\/p>\n Specifically, the State Attorney\u2019s Office said this week that its prosecutors would not be able to prove that Melissa Payne was not in fear for her life or of great bodily harm when she shot 62-year-old Bart DiGuglielmo on June 30.<\/p>\n The shooting, which happened around 12:30 p.m., was captured on several witnesses\u2019 cellphone cameras, and the footage shows DiGuglielmo move toward Payne, who is pointing a gun at him and warning him not to come closer before she pulls the trigger, prosecutors say.<\/p>\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Stephen J. Zaccor, division chief of the State Attorney\u2019s Office homicide trial unit, wrote in a Sept. 1 memo<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cFlorida 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,\u201d Zaccor continued.<\/p>\n An argument over a parking spot at the West McNab Road Walmart was the impetus for the shooting, according to the Broward County Sheriff\u2019s Office.<\/p>\n \u201cA dispute over a parking space. In a Walmart parking lot,\u201d Zaccor wrote. \u201cThe facts surrounding the June 30, 2026, homicide of Bart DiGuglielmo are as tragic as they are absurd.\u201d<\/p>\n This is what happened that day, according to Zaccor\u2019s memo:<\/p>\n Payne arrived around 12:20 p.m. with her niece and her niece\u2019s infant daughter in her Chevrolet Malibu. DiGuglielmo arrived at the same time in his Kia Soul. They both approached the same parking space, and a \u201cstalemate\u201d over the spot ensued, neither driver relenting.<\/p>\n DiGuglielmo eventually got out of his car and left it in the through lane, grabbed a shopping cart and went inside the store.<\/p>\n Payne then parked the Malibu in the disputed space.<\/p>\n About 90 seconds later, DiGuglielmo returned to his car. A witness told deputies that she heard him threaten to \u201c[Expletive] your [expletive] up\u201d as he got inside the Kia and sped off two aisles over. He parked the car and walked under a tree to smoke a cigarette. Two witnesses said he was \u201cvisibly angry\u201d and shaking.<\/p>\n Almost a minute later, DiGuglielmo walked toward Payne\u2019s car. She got out, holding a cellphone in her left hand and a gun in her right, yelling, \u201cIf you keep coming up to me, I\u2019m going to shoot you.\u201d He kept approaching.<\/p>\n Again, Payne yelled, \u201cDon\u2019t come over here. Don\u2019t come near my car. Don\u2019t try that.\u201d<\/p>\n DiGuglielmo backed off for a second, but then \u201ccontinued to aggressively approach [Payne],\u201d Zaccor wrote.<\/p>\n As he advanced, DiGuglielmo was holding a key and gesturing that he was going to damage Payne\u2019s car, Zaccor states. Payne kept backing up as DiGuglielmo neared her, then she shot him once in the abdomen.<\/p>\n She then placed her hands on the roof of her car and waited for deputies to take her into custody, according to the memo.<\/p>\n Paramedics took DiGuglielmo to Broward Health Medical Center in Fort Lauderdale, where he died. His toxicology report showed he had amphetamines, THC and an anti-depressant in his system, according to the memo.<\/p>\n According to his obituary, DiGuglielmo was an intensive-care nurse who worked at several burn centers during his career. He was a decorated U.S. Army veteran of Operation Desert Storm, earning two Bronze Stars, the obituary states<\/a>.<\/p>\n Miami Herald Staff Writer Sofia Saric contributed to this report.<\/p>\n Still footage from a cellphone video shows Melissa Payne holding a gun moments before she fatally shot Bart DiGuglielmo on June 30, 2026, in a North Lauderdale Walmart parking lot. Broward County State Attorney\u2019s Office <\/p>\n
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