A New Jersey native who served in the Army was fatally shot by a woman during a dispute over a parking spot outside a Florida Walmart.
Bart Diguglielmo, a retired Staff Sergeant with the US Army, was killed after an unidentified woman shot him in front of the supercenter in North Lauderdale, Florida, just before 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, the Broward Sheriff’s Office said.
Diguglielmo, 62, and the female shooter were embroiled in a “verbal altercation” over a parking space before the altercation turned deadly, officials said.
The woman claimed that she shot Diguglielmo in self-defense, police said.
Witnesses recalled the woman becoming hysterical as police investigated the shooting.
“I was walking up and heard a lady screaming,” David Anderson told CBS News Miami. “She was screaming and she was saying a lot of things.”
Video shared on social media captured the alleged dispute, as a woman wearing a white shirt stepped out of her car with a gun in her hand, talking back to a man, believed to be Diguglielmo, wearing a gray shirt, who had walked up on her.
The two shoppers repeatedly pointed at each other during the argument and, at one point, the man put both his arms in the air as they stood in an empty parking space, according to video obtained by WPLG.
Diguglielmo appears to follow the woman around another car as she aims the gun at him before a single gunshot rings out and he collapses to the ground.
The gunshot victim was transported to a local hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.
Diguglielmo’s sister described her brother as a decorated veteran during Operation Desert Storm, according to CBS News Miami.
A native of Hammonton, New Jersey, Diguglielmo served as a combat nurse, combat medic and tactical communications expert, according to his Facebook profile.
“He was a Christian man and a very good person and would not hurt anyone,” the sibling, whose name was not revealed, said.
Diguglielmo, who lived in Lauderhill, Florida, was also a retired nurse, his sister said.
Officials have withheld the name of the woman.
The Broward County State Attorney’s Office will determine if she will be charged following the police investigation.
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