Man in deadly ‘stand your ground’ shooting charged with manslaughter

A Florida man who fatally shot another man in a parking lot after an argument has been charged with manslaughter after police previously declined to press charges because of the state’s “stand your ground” law.

The sheriff’s office in Pinellas County, citing the law, which allows citizens to use deadly force when fearing “imminent death or great bodily harm,” did not arrest Michael Drejka for the fatal shooting of Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old father of three.

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Prosecutors, however, charged Drejka with manslaughter on Monday, the Tampa Bay Times reported.

State Attorney Bernie McCabe said prosecutors believe there is “clear and convincing” evidence that the stand your ground law is not applicable in this shooting.

Prior to the altercation, McGlockton had parked in a handicap spot outside a convenience store 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 is seen on surveillance footage pushing Drejka to the ground. Drejka, who had a concealed weapons permit, then pulls out a firearm and fires a shot into McGlockton’s chest. 

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

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri originally said that Drejka was protecting himself.

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

He forwarded the case to the Pinellas-Pasco State Attorney Office on Aug. 1 to make a final decision.

Prominent civil rights attorney Benjamin Crump said that McGlockton’s shooting death was “cold-blooded murder … by the self-appointed, wannabe cop Michael Drejka.”

The controversial “stand your ground” law made headlines during the 2012 trial for the shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin that eventually acquitted neighborhood watch volunteer George Zimmerman.

Florida Gov. Rick Scott (R) in 2017 signed into law a strengthened version of the defense.