A parking-space argument ended with a man dead. Now prosecutors have decided not to charge the woman who shot him

A Florida woman will not face criminal charges after fatally shooting a man during a dispute over a parking space at a North Lauderdale Walmart. Per CBS12, the Broward County State Attorney’s Office determined that Florida’s stand-your-ground law makes Melissa Payne immune from prosecution in the shooting death of Bart DiGuglielmo.

According to a 22-page memo released by prosecutors, the confrontation began shortly after noon when Payne, driving a white Chevrolet Malibu, and DiGuglielmo, driving a white Kia SUV, both tried to pull into the same parking space. Payne was with her niece and her niece’s infant daughter at the time, while DiGuglielmo was alone.

Both drivers got out of their vehicles during a brief standoff over the spot. DiGuglielmo eventually left his SUV in a driving lane, grabbed a shopping cart, and walked into the store, and Payne parked in the space while he was gone, according to the memo.

The situation escalated fast once he came back outside

DiGuglielmo returned to the parking lot, and Payne’s niece began recording part of the interaction on her phone. Witnesses told investigators DiGuglielmo threatened to damage Payne’s car, with one saying he heard DiGuglielmo say he was going to “mess her car up,” while two others reported hearing a more explicit threat.

DiGuglielmo got back into his SUV and drove off at a high rate of speed, according to prosecutors, before parking in a handicap space two aisles away from Payne’s car. He stayed there for about 90 seconds, and when he got out, he didn’t walk toward the store. He paused beneath two trees to smoke a cigarette while watching Payne’s car, then walked toward the aisle where she was sitting with the infant. Witnesses described him as visibly angry and shaking.

Payne got out of her car with a phone in one hand and a gun in the other as DiGuglielmo approached, and a bystander yelled that the confrontation wasn’t worth it. Witnesses said Payne repeatedly warned him not to come closer, with one saying she told him directly that she would shoot if he kept advancing. Surveillance footage showed her backing away once a nearby minivan pulled out and opened up space to move. Prosecutors said DiGuglielmo kept coming, and Payne backed between parked cars as he followed her around the vehicle.

Payne fired a single shot, striking him in the abdomen. He was taken to Broward Health Medical Center, where he died, and the medical examiner classified his death as a homicide resulting from the gunshot wound. Prosecutors acknowledged they couldn’t establish by clear and convincing evidence that she didn’t reasonably fear imminent death or great bodily harm. This is the legal standard Florida’s stand your ground law requires for immunity from prosecution.