A Florida woman who fatally shot a 65-year-old Army veteran during a heated confrontation in a Walmart parking lot will not face criminal charges after prosecutors concluded she was protected by the state’s controversial “stand your ground” law.
Melissa Payne shot Bart DiGuglielmo in the abdomen on June 30 outside a Walmart in North Lauderdale after what began as a dispute over a parking space spiraled into a deadly confrontation.
The Broward County State Attorney’s Office announced Sept. 3 that Payne would not be prosecuted, saying authorities could not prove that her fear of being seriously harmed was unreasonable.
The bizarre confrontation was captured on multiple surveillance cameras, giving investigators a detailed look at the moments leading up to the shooting.
In a Sept. 1 immunity memo, prosecutors described the circumstances as “as tragic as they are absurd.”
Payne was driving a white Chevrolet Malibu through the Walmart parking lot around 12:19 p.m. with her niece and her niece’s infant daughter inside. DiGuglielmo was driving alone in a white Kia SUV.
Both drivers apparently tried to pull into the same parking space, creating a brief standoff.
They eventually got out of their vehicles, and DiGuglielmo left his SUV sitting in the traffic lane while he grabbed a shopping cart and went inside the store.
Payne then parked her car.
Roughly 90 seconds later, DiGuglielmo returned and was allegedly heard threatening to damage Payne’s vehicle before driving off “at a high rate of speed,” according to prosecutors.
But the confrontation was far from over.
DiGuglielmo parked nearby in a handicapped space and began walking back toward Payne’s vehicle, where the infant was still located.
He briefly stopped beneath a tree and smoked a cigarette.
Witnesses later described him as “visibly angry” and shaking.
As DiGuglielmo started approaching again, Payne stepped out of her vehicle carrying a cellphone in her left hand and a gun in her right.
One witness told investigators Payne shouted a blunt warning.
“If you keep coming up to me, I’m going to f—ing shoot you!” she allegedly said.
Prosecutors said DiGuglielmo continued walking toward her despite repeated warnings to stay back.
Video reportedly showed him initially retreating before once again moving toward Payne.
When a vehicle parked beside Payne drove away, she moved into the newly opened space in an apparent attempt to put more distance between herself and DiGuglielmo.
He continued advancing.
At one point, prosecutors said DiGuglielmo approached Payne’s Malibu while holding keys in his hand in a manner that appeared as though he intended to damage the vehicle.
When he turned back toward Payne, she opened fire.
The bullet struck DiGuglielmo in the abdomen.
Payne immediately placed the firearm on top of her vehicle and remained at the scene. She was taken into custody when Broward Sheriff’s Office deputies arrived but was later released after claiming self-defense.
Payne had also been speaking to her husband on the phone during the confrontation. After the shot was fired, she reportedly told him to call police.
DiGuglielmo was rushed to Broward General Hospital, where he later died.
The Medical Examiner’s Office ruled his death a homicide caused by a gunshot wound.
A toxicology report later found amphetamines, THC and the antidepressant sertraline in his system.
Under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, a person does not have a duty to retreat if they are somewhere they legally have a right to be and reasonably believe deadly force is necessary to prevent death or great bodily harm.
Prosecutors said the burden was on the state to show with clear and convincing evidence that Payne’s fear was unreasonable.
They determined they could not meet that standard.
Division Chief Stephen Zaccor wrote that Payne “had the right to stand her ground if she was in reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm.”
Authorities also cited DiGuglielmo’s alleged threats, his continued pursuit of Payne after she moved away and his decision to keep approaching even after seeing that she was armed.
DiGuglielmo’s family has previously spoken publicly about the devastating loss.
His daughter, Amanda, told Local 10 that her father was a “good man” who had served in the military and previously worked as an emergency room trauma nurse.
He was also a father of three.
Amanda said the tragedy should never have reached such a horrifying conclusion.
Nobody, she said, “deserves to lose their life over a parking spot.”
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