Woman who fatally shot man during confrontation over parking space won't be charged

Prosecutors found she had a right to stand her ground, under Florida law.

A Florida woman who fatally shot a man in the parking lot of a Walmart during a confrontation over a parking space won't face charges, prosecutors announced Thursday.

The Broward County State Attorney's Office said Florida's "stand your ground" law makes the shooter, who said she was acting in self-defense, immune from prosecution in connection with the June 30 shooting in North Lauderdale.

Bart Diguglielmo, 62, was shot and killed in the incident, which was captured on several videos, including from cellphones and a Tesla, according to a memo on the shooting released Thursday by the Broward County State Attorney's Office.

"A dispute over a parking space. In a Walmart parking lot. The facts surrounding the June 30, 2026, homicide of Bart DiGuglielmo are as tragic as they are absurd," Broward State Attorney's Office Homicide Trial Unit Division Chief Stephen Zaccor wrote in the memo. "There is relatively no dispute about what actually happened because the entire incident was captured by various video recording devices."

The shooter, identified in the memo as Melissa Payne, was driving with her niece and niece's baby when she and Diguglielmo got into a "brief stalemate" after attempting to park in the same spot, the memo said.

DiGuglielmo "inexplicably abandoned his car in the through lane of travel" and went into the store, before shortly returning to his vehicle, according to the memo. Multiple witnesses reported hearing him say he was going to "mess her car up" and "---- her s--- up," before driving off at a high rate of speed, parking and then walking toward Payne's vehicle, according to the memo. A witness described him as being "visibly angry" while looking at Payne, according to the memo.

Payne exited her vehicle holding a phone in her left hand and a firearm in her right and said, per a witness, "If you keep coming up to me, I'm going to ------- shoot you!" the memo stated.

The witness reported that "despite those warnings," DiGuglielmo continued to approach, and video showed him "aggressively approach" Payne, according to the memo.

DiGuglielmo "continued his pursuit" as Payne backed away from him, according to the memo. He is seen on video continuing to pursue her and "motioned as if he was going to damage" her vehicle with his keys, according to the memo.

DiGuglielmo turned back and then approached Payne, at which point she fired her gun, striking him in the abdomen, according to the memo.

Payne was on the phone with her husband during the shooting, who told authorities that she said, "Bae, I shot. Call the cops," according to the memo.

She was briefly taken into custody by the Broward Sheriff's Office and her "recitation of the facts was consistent with the various sources of video evidence," the memo stated. She was released after stating she acted in self-defense, prosecutors said.

In an analysis of the incident, Zaccor stated that Payne was "in a public place, a Walmart parking lot, and therefore was in a place she had a right to be." She further is not a convicted felon and had a right to possess a firearm, "therefore she was not doing anything unlawful at the time she used deadly force," he wrote.

"Accordingly," Zaccor continued, Payne "had the right to stand her ground if she was in reasonable fear of death or great bodily harm." Based on the evidence, the state is unable to prove that her fear of great bodily harm was "not reasonable," he wrote, citing DiGuglielmo's actions.

Zaccor said that because 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."

Related Topics

Sponsored Content by Taboola