Broward County, Florida prosecutors will not charge Melissa Payne for fatally shooting Army veteran Bart Diguglielmo after a parking space dispute outside a North Lauderdale Walmart, closing a case that sparked questions about self-defense and Florida’s Stand Your Ground law.
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According to the Broward County State Attorney’s Office closeout memo, prosecutors identified Payne as the woman who fired the fatal shot on June 30 and concluded the circumstances supported immunity from criminal prosecution. The Walmart parking shooting had remained under review for more than two months while investigators examined video footage and witness accounts.The closeout memo laid out the legal standard prosecutors applied to Payne’s actions.
“If at the time Melissa Payne used deadly force: she was not doing anything unlawful; was in a place she had a right to be; and ‘she reasonably believe[d] that using or threatening to use such force [was] necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm,’ then she is immune from arrest and prosecution,” the memo stated.
The Broward Sheriff’s Office said deputies were called to the Walmart at 7900 W. McNab Road at approximately 12:28 p.m. on June 30. Authorities found 62-year-old Diguglielmo suffering from a gunshot wound. North Lauderdale Fire Rescue transported him to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was later pronounced dead. BSO initially said Diguglielmo and an adult woman had been involved in a verbal dispute over a parking space and that the woman remained at the scene, cooperated with detectives, and claimed self-defense.
The newly disclosed account adds significantly more detail to what happened before the gunfire. According to Local 10’s reporting on the prosecutor’s memo, multiple recording devices captured the encounter. Payne was with her niece and her niece’s baby, while Diguglielmo was alone in a white Kia SUV when both drivers attempted to claim the same parking space. Prosecutors described what followed as a “brief stalemate ensued” before both Payne and Diguglielmo got out of their vehicles.
The memo states that Diguglielmo left his SUV in a travel lane, grabbed a shopping cart, and walked inside Walmart while Payne parked her Chevy Malibu in the disputed space. Roughly 90 seconds later, prosecutors said, Diguglielmo returned. According to the memo, two witnesses reported hearing him tell Payne, “I’m gonna f**k your s**t up,” before he drove away at a high rate of speed.
But prosecutors said the confrontation did not end there. According to the same memo, Diguglielmo parked about two aisles away, walked back toward Payne’s vehicle and remained nearby under a tree while smoking a cigarette. Witnesses described him as angry and shaking while watching Payne. Prosecutors said he later began approaching her car again.
Local 10 reports that Payne then stepped out of her vehicle holding her phone in one hand and a firearm in the other. She warned Diguglielmo, “If you keep coming up to me, I’m going to f**king shoot you!” A witness who saw the confrontation reportedly shouted, “It’s not worth it!”
Prosecutors said Payne issued several additional warnings as Diguglielmo continued nearby. “Don’t come over here!” “Don’t come near my car!” and “Don’t try that!” she said, according to the memo. Diguglielmo initially moved away but then resumed approaching Payne while making hand gestures, prosecutors said. Payne ultimately fired once, striking him in the abdomen. He later died at the hospital.
The legal question surrounding the Melissa Payne shooting centered on whether she reasonably believed deadly force was necessary. Under Florida Statute 776.012, a person may use deadly force when that person reasonably believes it is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm. A person who meets the statute’s requirements and is lawfully present is not required to retreat before using that force.
Florida law also provides a separate layer of immunity. Under Florida Statute 776.032, a person whose use of force is considered justified under the state’s self-defense statutes is immune from criminal prosecution and certain civil actions. The statute defines criminal prosecution to include arrest, detention, charging, and prosecution. Law enforcement can investigate a shooting, but an arrest for the use of force requires probable cause that the force was unlawful.
Stand Your Ground protection is not automatic simply because a shooter says they were afraid. Florida law still requires authorities to examine whether the threat was imminent, whether the person’s belief was reasonable, and whether the person claiming justification was legally entitled to the protection. Florida’s statutes also place limits on justification when someone initially provokes the use of force, subject to specific exceptions.
A well-known Florida case illustrates that distinction. According to Associated Press reporting published by CBS News, Michael Drejka was convicted of manslaughter after fatally shooting Markeis McGlockton during a 2018 parking dispute outside a Clearwater convenience store. Drejka argued that he feared for his life after McGlockton pushed him to the ground, but a jury convicted him in 2019, and he received a 20-year prison sentence. That case underscored that Florida’s self-defense law depends heavily on the specific evidence surrounding the moment deadly force is used.
Diguglielmo’s family has maintained that Payne should not receive that protection. Melissa Rodriguez, an attorney representing his daughter Amanda Diguglielmo, told Local 10, “Amanda Diguglielmo is very disappointed to hear that they won’t be pursuing criminal charges in the case. We have maintained that the situation did not warrant stand-your-ground immunity.”
In an earlier Local 10 interview with Amanda Diguglielmo, she described her father as a longtime emergency room trauma nurse who worked in the profession for 30 years. She also said he was a twin brother, a father of three, and a sergeant in the Army. “He was a great man. He was a father, he was a grandfather (and) he was a brother,” she said.
When asked what she would miss most, Amanda said, “Everything — being able to call him, have lunch, holidays, everything.” Her attorney had also challenged the self-defense claim before prosecutors announced their decision. “This was not a situation of self-defense or stand-your-ground immunity. I don’t believe that the shooting was justified,” Rodriguez said. “I believe that criminal charges should be filed.”
The Broward State Attorney’s Office has now reached the opposite conclusion, leaving Payne without criminal charges while Diguglielmo’s family continues to dispute the finding that the fatal Walmart parking shooting was legally justified.
