Man in deadly ‘stand your ground’ shooting won’t face charges: police

A Florida man who fatally shot another man last week in a parking lot after an argument will face no charges, police said, according to ABC News.

Michael Drejka gunned down Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old father of three, in a convenience store last Thursday.

Prior to the shooting, McGlockton had parked in a handicap spot with his girlfriend and three children before he entered the store to purchase food with his five-year-old son.

Drejka then approached Britany Jacobs, McGlockton’s girlfriend, while outside the store, and reportedly yelled at her for parking in a handicap space without a permit. 

McGlockton can then be seen on surveillance footage exiting the store and pushing Drejka to the ground. 

No charges due to Florida’s “Stand Your Ground Law” in this deadly shooting over a parking space: https://t.co/ZxOHISnVXK@GioBenitez reports. pic.twitter.com/70waEsLS8B

— Good Morning America (@GMA) July 23, 2018

“He wanted somebody to be angry at,” Jacobs in reference to Drejka in an interview Monday with ABC. “He just wanted someone to fight him. He was picking a fight. I’m just sitting, waiting for my family to come back to the car.” 

While on the ground, Drejka, who has a concealed weapons permit, can then been seen pulling out his firearm seconds later and firing a shot into McGlockton’s chest.

The video showed McGlockton wounded and stumbling back into the store, where he collapsed in front of his son. The couple’s four-month-old son and three-year-old daughter were inside the car during the shooting. 

McGlockton was pronounced dead at a hospital shortly after. 

{mosads}Drejka, who is white, told local police he shot McGlockton, who is black, out of fear for his life.

McGlockton’s girlfriend said it was the other way around, adding that her boyfriend backed away from Drejka after he pushed him.

“The guy is on the ground and he pulls the gun out,” Jacobs told ABC. “My dude steps back ’cause my dude is fearing for his life ― all of us were.”

The sheriff’s office, citing the “stand your ground” law, which allows citizens to use deadly force when fearing “imminent death or great bodily harm,” did not arrest Drejka for the fatal shooting.

“He had to shoot to defend himself,” Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said in a statement obtained by CBS News. “And those are the facts and that’s the law.”