Posted on 07/24/2018 6:02:02 AM PDT by simpson96
CLEARWATER, Fla. — Hundreds from around Tampa Bay marched with the family of the Clearwater man fatally shot over a parking spot.
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri says the shooting was justified under Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law. The deadly shooting at a convenience store in unincorporated Clearwater occurred Thursday.
Sgt. Spencer Gross of the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office tells ABC Action News the shooting stemmed from an argument over a parking spot.
Deputies said Michael Drejka, of Clearwater, confronted a woman who parked in a handicapped parking space outside the Circle A Food Store on Sunset Point Road.
Witnesses told deputies the two were arguing because Drejka was upset the woman parked there even though she wasn't handicapped. The woman's boyfriend, Markeis McGlockton, of Clearwater, was inside the store to buy his little boy a candy bar, according to the store owner.
McGlockton exited the store to defend his girlfriend and shoved Drejka to the ground.
Drejka responded by taking out a pistol and shooting McGlockton in the chest. McGlockton ran back into the store where his five-year-old son was standing at the front door, watching the entire incident happen right before his eyes. McGlockton fell to the ground inside of the store and he was pronounced dead at a local hospital.
Investigators say multiple people witnessed the shooting and called 911.
Drejka is a legal concealed weapons permit holder and will not be charged because of Florida's Stand Your Ground law, according to the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office.
(Excerpt) Read more at abcactionnews.com ...
Agreed. I carry, and when I do, I make sure to avoid confrontation. I dont want it to embolden me to initiate an argument, to be “Mr. Justice”. This guy should have called the police and told them a car was parked in the spot. But the violence began when he was assaulted, and no way could I convict him if I was a juror.
Yep, we can Sunday morning quarterback, but in the heat of the moment, adrenaline rush and perhaps pain from an aggressive assault, one or two seconds to position a gun from an assaulter a second away who easily could have continued an assault with his fist or even a knife while I am positioned on my rear.....hard to say what the right reaction would be at the time and considering so much we don't know. I can say I don't confront people because there are too many kooks out there.
Why say stupid shit?
Hogwash.
"The debatable question here is in that millisecond would a reasonable person pull the trigger..."
Like millions of Americans, I have PULLED a gun in self-defense. I have not SHOT anyone in self-defense. If I don't want the gun grabbers to win, I need to press for charges against those who abuse the right of self-defense!
What's your point? Drejka's mom wasnt't there last month, either.
You KNOW that with your mom - it's the thought that counts...
[last month] Rick Kelly, who drives a septic tank truck, briefly parked his tanker in this handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store before running inside this store for a beverage. When he came out, he saw Drejka taking pictures of his vehicle.
"He asked me (if) was I handicapped, and I said, 'Obviously, I'm driving a tanker. I'm not handicapped.' And I asked if was he handicapped and he stated 'No, my mom is,'" Kelly said.
===================
In an interview with Tampa’s Fox 13, store owner Ali Salous said he wasn’t surprised Drejka killed someone after watching him “become argumentative” over the same issue last month. The owner also said he called police after the first fight.
=================
Salous says Drejka has a history of confrontations in and around his store.
"He told me I can't help it. Every time I do this I get in trouble, and I can't help it. I keep doing it," Salous said.
It's the oddest thing. I don't go looking for trouble.
But I TOTALLY get that Mike Drejka is cleaning up the wave of "ferals" that is threatening to engulf his little town of Clearwater, FL.
Hard choices have got to be made, and he's the man that's making those choices.
Pro tip: If you visit Clearwater, wear a sign that says "I'm not a feral!", so's Mike can sort you out from the rest of the crowd.
In an interview with Tampa’s Fox 13, store owner Ali Salous said he wasn’t surprised Drejka killed someone after watching him “become argumentative” over the same issue last month. The owner also said he called police after the first fight.
=================
Salous says Drejka has a history of confrontations in and around his store.
"He told me I can't help it. Every time I do this I get in trouble, and I can't help it. I keep doing it," Salous said.
[last month] Rick Kelly, who drives a septic tank truck, briefly parked his tanker in this handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store before running inside this store for a beverage. When he came out, he saw Drejka taking pictures of his vehicle.
"He asked me (if) was I handicapped, and I said, 'Obviously, I'm driving a tanker. I'm not handicapped.' And I asked if was he handicapped and he stated 'No, my mom is,'" Kelly said.
===================
And in 2012, Tyler Smith, 18, accused a driver later identified as Drejka of hanging a gun outside of his truck window during a road rage incident in Palm Harbor, northwest of Tampa, according to law enforcement documents obtained by NBC News.
Smith, whose account was corroborated by his passenger, told a Pinellas County sheriff’s deputy that Drejka began yelling and honking at him when he stopped at a yellow traffic light, the documents say.
Smith said Drejka then dangled a black handgun from his driver’s side window and placed two magazines on his truck’s dashboard. After Drejka followed the car, the passenger told the deputy, Smith called the sheriff’s office to report him — though he didn’t want to press charges, according to the documents.
During an interview with deputies, Drejka said he’d yelled at Smith and honked his horn after the car cut him off, the documents say. Drejka denied following the vehicle or displaying a Glock that he kept in his truck’s center console.
No charges were filed in the case and the documents say Drejka’s concealed weapon’s license was valid.
For the last year a back injury and surgery has made me as fragile as an egg shell. Literally.
If I had been pushed down like that I am sure it would necessitate a serious trip to the hospital more likely than not causing extreme pain and further bodily injury. Did I spread this info around. HELL NO.
Have I been extra ultra vigilant about my physical situation especially when around strangers in public? Hell YES!!
Have I been carrying concealed the entire time with all this in mind? No one knows for sure.
Not bashing the cops at all.
Just pointing out that people should carry to protect themselves from people like Drejka, because the police are not going to do it.
Yes he was on the ground and had no apparent injuries other than his pride. Being pushed is not grounds for killing someone. Some of the responses on this thread are downright scary, not to mention depressing. If FR is any indication of where this country stands on civility we are doomed. Somebody disses you, pop a cap on them it’s all good. Isn’t that the same kind if behavior we decry in the black communities of our large cities? Settle everything with a bullet to the gut. Yes the Black guy shouldn’t have pushed him and his girlfriend shouldn’t have parked in the wrong parking spot, but neither of those offenses are punishable by death. Mr. Dejka was a walking time bomb that probably shouldn’t have had a permit. He is the poster boy for the anti-gun Left. A hot headed loon looking for a fight he can win with his side arm.
Let's turn that question around. You earlier stated:
The shooting was TOTALLY justified. Mouthy b*tch was parked in Mike Drejka's mom's handicapped parking space.
It sounds like you are justifying his actions because his mom might want to park in the spot. How valid is that justification if his mom isn't even there? So what was your point in the earlier post if that interpretation isn't correct?
Just from the video, that's my view also.
I guess you weren’t on the ground, waiting for the round house kick to the face after a jarring and unexpected assault?
Have you ever seen a victim of an assault, where he couldn’t shoot, and has his face caved in and was put in a comma? If so, did you help pay the medical bills and support his family? If you did, thanks, sincerely.
Sounds like another George Zimmerman.
Oh, my bad.
I must have misread these articles:
[last month] Rick Kelly, who drives a septic tank truck, briefly parked his tanker in this handicapped spot outside the Circle A Food Store before running inside this store for a beverage. When he came out, he saw Drejka taking pictures of his vehicle.
"He asked me (if) was I handicapped, and I said, 'Obviously, I'm driving a tanker. I'm not handicapped.' And I asked if was he handicapped and he stated 'No, my mom is,'" Kelly said.
===================
Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced he did not intend to charge 47-year-old Michael Drejka ===================
In an interview with Tampa’s Fox 13, store owner Ali Salous said he wasn’t surprised Drejka killed someone after watching him “become argumentative” over the same issue last month. The owner also said he called police after the first fight.
=================
Salous says Drejka has a history of confrontations in and around his store.
"He told me I can't help it. Every time I do this I get in trouble, and I can't help it. I keep doing it," Salous said.
Check the answers from the people replying to me.
They're not getting it. 
Blind sided push to the ground will get you shot every time in Texas.
Being pushed? Look at the video, I would call it a vicious assault, the opening act of a serious beat down. Apparently the culture in this neighborhood required carrying a deadly weapon.
Move along, then.
A regular comma, or an Oxford comma? 
I think we should be clear on our definitions here.
“I guess you weren’t on the ground, waiting for the round house kick to the face after a jarring and unexpected assault?”
People backing away are not preparing for a round house kick to the face. The shooter screwed up in multiple ways BEFORE pulling his gun. He also screwed up AFTER he pulled his gun. If you kill someone who didn’t need killing, you ought to be prepared for some consequences.
Not a fan of, “I was knocked down. I was scared. So I shot a guy who was retreating!”
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