Woman Shoots Man For Walmart Parking Space

Melissa Payne shot and killed a man in a Walmart parking lot over a single space, and she will not be charged for it. Broward County prosecutors announced on Thursday, Sept. 3, that Florida's stand your ground law makes her immune from prosecution, ending any criminal case tied to the June 30 shooting in North Lauderdale.

Bart DiGuglielmo, 62, of Lauderhill, was pronounced dead the same day Payne shot him once in the abdomen outside the Walmart at 7900 W. McNab Road. The Medical Examiner ruled the cause of death a gunshot wound and the manner homicide. The two drivers had been fighting over who got the open parking spot.

Two Cars, One Parking Spot

Payne pulled in with her niece and her niece's baby. DiGuglielmo was alone in a white Kia SUV. Both went for the same open space, and prosecutors described a brief stalemate before either driver made a move.

DiGuglielmo then left his car sitting in the travel lane, grabbed a shopping cart and walked into the store. While he was gone, Payne backed her Chevy Malibu into the spot and parked. The dispute looked finished. It was not.

The Threats Started When He Came Back

DiGuglielmo returned to his SUV about 90 seconds later. Three witnesses told investigators they heard him threaten her, one recalling that he said he would mess her car up, before he sped off at a high rate of speed, according to the memo.

He did not leave the lot. He parked about two aisles west, walked back toward Payne's vehicle and stood under a tree smoking a cigarette. Witnesses described him as visibly angry and shaking as he watched her. Her niece had gone into the store, leaving her infant daughter in the car with Payne.

One Shot in the Abdomen

When DiGuglielmo approached her car again, Payne stepped out with her phone in her left hand and a firearm in her right. A witness heard her warn that she would shoot if he kept coming. She kept repeating it: don't come over here, don't come near my car, don't try that. One bystander shouted that it was not worth it and told him to walk away.

DiGuglielmo backed off at first, then kept advancing. Payne circled all the way around her own vehicle as he pursued her the entire time. He walked up to her car and, with keys in his hand, motioned as if he was going to damage it, prosecutors said.

Payne fired one shot into his abdomen. She immediately set the gun on the roof of her car. She was on the phone with her husband as it happened and told him, "Bae, I shot. Call the cops," the memo said. Broward Sheriff's Office deputies briefly detained her and let her go after she said she had acted in self-defense.

In Her Own Words

In her statement to deputies, Payne said the trouble started before she even parked. "I backed into the spot. Before I did that, he got out of his vehicle, he was going on about what he was gonna do to my car, to my vehicle," she said. "He said, like, scratch it and he was doing a motion to it. When he said he was gonna scratch my vehicle, that's what made me not get out of the car."

She described watching him leave and then come back. "When I see he comes walking up again, walking in my direction, I step out of the vehicle, I had my gun down on the side," Payne said. "I said, Sir, please do not approach my vehicle. Do not come near us." She said other men nearby were also telling him to leave her alone.

On a deputy's body camera released with the memo, Payne said DiGuglielmo trailed her through the lot. "He's made several threats about doing something to my vehicle," she said. "You're following me, I circled around the cars, I told him several times to back up." She added, "You walked up on me several times and it went from there."

Why Prosecutors Backed Off

Homicide Trial Unit Division Chief Stephen Zaccor made no secret of how senseless he found the killing. "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," he wrote in the closeout memo. He said there was relatively no dispute about what happened because cameras caught all of it, including cellphones and a nearby Tesla.

The office of Broward State Attorney Harold F. Pryor concluded Payne was in a public place where she had a right to be, was not a convicted felon and legally owned her gun. That meant she was doing nothing unlawful when she fired, and the state could not prove her fear of great bodily harm was unreasonable.

Prosecutors were blunt that the ruling was not a stamp of approval for Payne. "The video does not demonstrate that [Payne] was in the right, rather it demonstrates that the State of Florida cannot overcome her claim that she was in reasonable fear of great bodily harm by clear and convincing evidence," the memo said. It added that 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."

His Family Says It Wasn't Self-Defense

DiGuglielmo's family rejects the decision. His daughter, Amanda DiGuglielmo, and her attorney, Melissa Rodriguez, have argued from the start that the shooting never should have qualified for stand your ground protection.

"This is not a situation in which deadly force was reasonable," Rodriguez said. "All of the references are to damage to the vehicle, damage to property, and while I understand this was a heated situation and a lot might have been said, damage to property does not constitute a reasonable ground for deadly force."

The family put it more plainly after the announcement. "My family does not agree with this decision, [our] heart is broken," they said in a text message to CBS News Miami.

Who Bart DiGuglielmo Was

DiGuglielmo was a twin, a father of three and a grandfather, his daughter said. He served as a sergeant in the Army and worked as an emergency room trauma nurse for 30 years.

"He was a great man. He was a father, he was a grandfather (and) he was a brother," Amanda DiGuglielmo said. Asked what she would miss most, she said everything, from the phone calls to lunches to holidays.

What Stand Your Ground Means for the Case

Florida's stand your ground law covers a person who is not engaged in criminal activity and is somewhere they have a right to be, and it removes any duty to retreat. The National Conference of State Legislatures counts at least 31 states with no duty to retreat.

The statute also grants immunity from civil suit, but a charging decision does not settle that. Under a 2017 Florida Supreme Court ruling, a determination in a criminal case does not bind a civil plaintiff, so Payne would have to establish immunity again in any lawsuit DiGuglielmo's family brought.

Prosecutors released a timeline video running about 18 minutes, showing the confrontation from several angles. When NBC6 went to Payne's home after the decision, a man there said they were not talking.