CLEARWATER, Fla. _ Family members of Markeis McGlockton implored the state attorney during a news conference Tuesday to file charges in the death of their son.
McGlockton's mother, father and girlfriend, alongside three local attorneys, spoke of McGlockton as a loving father of three who enjoyed singing and was always there for his children.
McGlockton, 28, was shot by 47-year-old Michael Drejka last week during a fight over a parking space in what Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri deemed a justified use of force under Florida's "stand-your-ground" self-defense law.
"We're asking the office of Bernie McCabe to file charges against Mr. Drejka," said Clearwater attorney Michele Rayner, "because if not, they're sanctioning a murder, plain and simple."
Rayner said she also wanted to correct the record on a widely-reported detail that Drejka shot McGlockton in the chest, which is attributed to a Pinellas County Sheriff's Office news release.
According to McGlockton's girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, who said she put pressure on the wound after the shooting, he was shot in the left side of his abdomen.
"Why was he shot on his side when he was getting ready to turn around?" Rayner said.
The Medical Examiner's Office has not released an autopsy to the family, she added.
The shooting occurred at the Circle A Food Store in unincorporated Clearwater. Jacobs idled in a handicap spot while McGlockton went inside with his 5-year-old son, named after him, to grab snacks and drinks.
Drejka confronted Jacobs about why she parked there without a permit. The two got in an argument, heated enough to draw attention from witnesses in the parking lot, who went inside to alert the store owner. A surveillance video released by the Sheriff's Office shows McGlockton leaving the store, walking up to Drejka and shoving him to the ground. Drejka pulled out a handgun and shot McGlockton.
While the video didn't have sound, Jacobs said the men did not exchange words from the time Drejka hit the ground to the time he shot. McGlockton only spoke to Drejka before he shoved him, telling him to get away from his girl.
At one point, the conversation turned to an encounter Drejka had last month with another convenience store regular that McGlockton's father, Michael McGlockton, said he believes shows Drejka was looking for a fight.
Rick Kelly told The Tampa Bay Times last week that Drejka confronted him for parking in the same spot. The argument escalated, and Drejka threatened to shoot him before the store owner diffused the situation.
"This man came to me," Jacobs, 25, said. "This man was armed. He could have killed my whole family. I don't know this man ... and Markeis did not know this man at all ... All he was trying to do was protect what was his, and that was his family, that was his kids."
