Nationwide — Melissa Payne, an African American woman who fatally shot a white retired Army veteran during a confrontation in a Walmart parking lot, will not face criminal charges after prosecutors determined that she was legally protected by the state’s controversial Stand Your Ground law. She shot 62-year-old Bart Diguglielmo on June 30 outside a Walmart in North Lauderdale, Florida. Prosecutors have now concluded that she acted in self-defense and is immune from prosecution.
The case is particularly notable because Payne told investigators that the confrontation included an alleged racial slur and threats from Diguglielmo. According to Payne, Diguglielmo called her the N-word as their argument escalated. Witnesses also reported hearing him threaten Payne, with one saying he told her he was going to “mess her car up” and another recalling a more explicit threat.
According to the New York Post, the confrontation reportedly began when Payne and Diguglielmo attempted to park in the same space. After initially entering Walmart, Diguglielmo returned to the parking lot and witnesses described him as visibly angry. Prosecutors said he eventually approached Payne’s vehicle, where her infant great-niece was sitting, while witnesses reported that he continued threatening her.
Payne eventually got out of her vehicle holding her phone in one hand and a firearm in the other. According to a witness, she warned Diguglielmo, “It’s not worth it!” and told him that she would shoot if he continued approaching her. Despite those warnings, he continued advancing, and video showed him following Payne around another parked vehicle before approaching her car and making a motion with his keys as though he intended to damage it.
When Diguglielmo turned and approached Payne again, she fired a single shot into his abdomen. He was transported to Broward General Hospital, where he died. A post-mortem examination found amphetamines, Delta-9 THC and the antidepressant sertraline in his bloodstream. The medical examiner classified his death as a homicide caused by a gunshot wound.
Ultimately, prosecutors said Florida law did not require Payne to retreat or wait until Diguglielmo physically attacked her before she could defend herself. Prosecutor Stephen J. Zaccor wrote that the evidence did not necessarily establish that Payne was “in the right,” but that the state could not overcome her claim that she reasonably feared great bodily harm. The decision makes the case a striking example of a Black woman successfully receiving the protection of Florida’s Stand Your Ground law after fatally shooting a white man during a racially charged confrontation.