I really wasn't planning on writing about this today, but since it's been blowing up on social media I kind of feel obliged to weigh in.
The Broward County, Florida Sheriff's Department is investigating a shooting that happened at a Walmart on Tuesday. 62-year-old Bart Diguglielmo was shot and killed by a woman as the pair were arguing about a parking space.
So far, there've been two different videos making the rounds on social media; one recorded by someone sitting in a car not far away from the incident, and another recording from a dashcam located directly opposite of the two. The length of these videos varies from poster to poster, though.
Footage of a fatal parking spot dispute in FL that killed a 62-year-old veteran. The killer remains unnamed and free.
— End Wokeness (@EndWokeness) July 2, 2026
Does this look like "self-defense"?
(I cut out the graphic part) pic.twitter.com/zqrGb0628L
End Wokeness also cut off much of the beginning of the recording that's aired on local media, which shows Diguglielmo following the woman as she tries to walk around another vehicle to put some distance between them. The woman has her pistol in her hand the entire time, including as she was getting out of her car. At one point Diguglielmo puts his hands above his head as if to indicate he's not a threat, but a few seconds later, as he slowly walks towards her, she opens fire.
The dashcam video doesn't have audio, but in the shorter clip you can hear the woman telling Diguglielmo to "walk away" before she pulled the trigger.
Diguglielmo was hit once in the stomach and passed away a short time later at a nearby hospital. The 62-year-old was a retired nurse and decorated veteran, as well as a father.
His daughter, Amanda, broke down in tears as she described her father as a “good man,” with whom she had recently worked on repairing their relationship.
“[Nobody] deserves to lose their life over a parking spot,” she told Local 10 in a tearful interview.
She also denied claims that her father had instigated the argument.
“Another [news site] says it was because my dad was making some type of advance towards the woman, which I will completely debunk because my dad is not that person. He’s not perfect, but not someone that would do this to this extreme,” she said.
Look, I don't know what happened, but good people do inexplicable things all the time, especially when we let our emotions get the better of us. Neither of the videos show the full encounter between the two, which began when they were both inside their vehicles, but I've seen at least one report that some eyewitnesses say Diguglielmo had blocked the woman from entering the parking space using his own vehicle before backing up and letting her park.
All of us internet attorneys are working with a partial set of facts, and while we're all still entitled to our opinion I honestly believe we need to wait for the investigation to conclude, and hopefully more evidence to be released before we can draw any substantive conclusions.
What does Florida law say? First, there's no duty to retreat, so even though the woman tried walking away from Diguglielmo, she didn't need to legally to do so. The second aspect of the state's Stand Your Ground law is that there needs to be a reasonable belief of imminent danger of death or serious bodily harm.
Was it reasonable for the woman to believe that Diguglielmo posed a threat? His daughter, who knew him well, says absolutely not. The woman, who had met Diguglielmo just moments before, didn't know about his service to our nation or the care he provided as a nurse. She saw an angry guy who wouldn't leave her alone about a parking space.
In my opinion, that alone doesn't justify a shooting. If Diguglielmo had verbally threatened her, though, that would change things. And because we don't have audio of the entire encounter, it's impossible for us to know if any kind of threat was made.
In the longer video, Diguglielmo isn't stomping around aggressively, waving his arms, or angrily yelling. He is, however, persistent. He's not disengaging. She takes one step back, he takes one step forward. She tries to get behind a car to get space, and he follows, even after he's seen that she's holding a gun.
I don't believe either of these videos clearly shows an act of murder. I don't think either of them clearly show an act of self-defense. I think this is one of those cases that fall into a grey area, particularly because of our known unknowns. We know the two jawed at each other before Diguglielmo was shot, but we don't know what exactly was said. The woman's self-defense claim may hinge on what came out of Diguglielmo's mouth before she pulled the trigger, and none of us are privy to that information yet. The fact that she exited her vehicle with her gun already drawn may have legal ramifications as well.
According to the Florida State Conceal Carry and Self Defense course I took a couple years back, she committed murder. She got out her vehicle with the weapon drawn, this is brandishing, this is illegal, and it forfeits Stand Your Ground. She pointed the weapon at an unarmed… pic.twitter.com/6BmJSLWueO
— MAGA Patriot (@n3v375) July 2, 2026
I don't know if this was self-defense or not. I'll await the results of the sheriff's investigation, and if they file charges then we'll be closely following her Stand Your Ground hearing.
I do know, however, that Diguglielmo would be alive today if he'd simply walked away and gone about his business in the Walmart. It's a parking space, not a winning Powerball ticket they both found on the ground at the same time. And ironically, one opened up right next to the woman's car as the two were arguing. Diguglielmo could have pulled in there if he'd been willing to disengage and get back into his vehicle.
Regardless of whether or not this is ruled a justifiable use of force, I think Diguglielmo's death is tragic. Like so many of the defensive gun uses in road rage incidents that I write about and cover on Bearing Arms' Cam & Company, if the incensed individual would just take a deep breath, disengage, and get on with their day, they'd probably forget about the interaction within a matter of minutes. I think these stories are so tragic because in many cases the deceased really is a generally good person who just lost their temper or their patience.
It sure sounds like Diguglielmo was a good man, and I'm sorry that he's gone. I don't have all the facts, so I honestly can't say if the woman was justified in shooting him. I don't need a police investigation, though, to believe that this tragic incident was entirely preventable.
Editor's Note: It’s America’s 250th birthday! Help Bearing Arms celebrate the greatest nation in history by honoring its past, defending its present, and preserving its future with reporting you can trust.
Join Bearing Arms VIP and use promo code AMERICA250 to receive 74% off your membership.
Join the conversation as a VIP Member