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Florida's "stand your ground" law is being tested again after a 28-year-old father was mortally wounded in front of his young children following an argument with another man over a handicapped parking space.

The State Attorney's Office is expected to review the case and make the final decision on whether it falls within the claim of self-defense under a law that first gained prominence in the 2012 shooting death of unarmed black teenager Trayvon Martin. State prosecutors could not immediately be reached for comment Monday.

Surveillance video taken from the Circle A convenience store in Clearwater last Thursday showed Markeis McGlockton, his girlfriend Britany Jacobs and their three young children pulling into a handicapped spot. McGlockton ran into the store with their 5-year-old son.

A man in a light-colored hat later identified as Michael Drejka, 47 went up to the car, and he and Jacobs got into a spat.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said at a news conference Friday that the two were arguing over whether Jacobs could be in that parking space.

As Jacobs stepped out of the car, McGlockton came out of the store and shoved Drejka to the ground. In response, Drejka pulled a gun out of his pocket.

Drejka could be seen firing at McGlockton as the young father stepped away. McGlockton was wounded in the chest, and ran back into the store, where surveillance footage from inside showed him falling to the ground in front of his 5-year-old.

McGlockton later died at the hospital.

Gualtieri said that the video does appear to show Drejka protecting himself, so his agency does not have an authority to make an arrest "unless we have probable cause that the person committed a crime."

"Markeis should not have gone up and slammed this guy to the ground. Markeis wouldn't be dead if Markeis didnt slam this guy to the ground," Gualtieri added. "So Markeis has got skin in this game, too. And the reason why it makes it justified, and within the framework of 'stand your ground,' is because of what Markeis did."

He said that it will fall on the state to determine whether Drejka was "not entitled to use force in this circumstance."

The sheriff, however, said the circumstances surrounding the shooting were not clear-cut.

"There is a pause even if it's only for a couple seconds there is a pause between the time Drejka hits the ground and he shoots. That pause gives me pause," Gualtieri said. "That pause gives me some concern. And it goes back to what I said when I opened: just because you can, doesn't mean you should."

McGlocktons father, Michael, said that his son was just standing up for a family he adored.

"Markeis was a good man he was all about his kids," Michael McGlockton said in an interview with NBC News on Monday. "He wasnt out there looking for trouble, but he would stand up for his family and thats exactly what he did. As a man, if you see someone confronting someone that you love, what are you gonna do? Youre gonna run to their defense. Youre gonna try to protect them."

Michele Rayner, a lawyer representing the dead man's family, added that Drejka was so close to Jacobs car door that she would have hit him had she opened it.

"So would he have shot her then?" Rayner said. "If anyone was really standing their ground or defending someone, Mr. McGlockton was defending his family.

Drejka could not be reached for comment Friday.

Another Circle A customer, Rick Kelly, told NBC affiliate WFLA that he encountered Drejka in a similar situation a couple of months ago. Kelly said he had pulled into that same handicap spot and Drejka began inspecting his decals to see if he had the right to be there. The situation escalated.

"He was basically threatening to shoot me that day," 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 sheriffs 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 drivers side window and placed two magazines on his trucks dashboard. After Drejka followed the car, the passenger told the deputy, Smith called the sheriffs office to report him though he didnt want to press charges, according to the documents.

During an interview with deputies, Drejka said hed 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 trucks center console.

No charges were filed in the case and the documents say Drejkas concealed weapons license was valid.

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Dozens of protesters marched on Sunday and held a vigil for McGlockton as Jacobs called for justice.

"He was a great man, and you know, he didn't do nothing wrong," Jacobs said, according to WFLA. "He was just trying to protect us."

At least 24 states have some form of a "stand your ground" law, with Florida's enacted in 2005 with the help of gun lobbyists.

Since then, Floridians have been able to justify using deadly force in order to "prevent imminent death or great bodily harm." Florida goes the extra step of not requiring the gun owner to first try to flee from danger before pulling the trigger.

In legal cases, the defense had been required to prove a case of "stand your ground" until last year, when it was changed to put the burden of proof on the prosecution.

This change could leave prosecutors with a "very tricky case" if they pursue charges in McGlockton's killing, said NBC News and MSNBC legal analyst Daniel Goldman.

"But I think there is a real possibility that the state attorney general will look at this and [say]...'You know what, it shouldn't be our decision as prosecutors to say whether or not this was a proper use of stand your ground law,'" Goldman said. "We have a jury of peers in this country for a reason. Let's present this to the jury and let them decide."

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George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer, had claimed self-defense when he fatally shot Martin, a 17-year-old high school student who had been walking through the gated community.

Zimmerman was later charged with murder, but acquitted. His attorneys did not use "stand your ground" as a defense at trial, but the law still became a flash point as part of a larger national conversation.

The law was again invoked in Florida in 2014, when a 71-year-old retired Tampa police captain fatally shot a 43-year-old man inside a movie theater after the two got into an argument. A trial in the case is scheduled for next February.

The race of McGlockton, who was black, has added another element in the case as protesters on Sunday held signs demanding the "racist" law be repealed.

Shevrin Jones, a black Democratic state lawmaker in Broward County, tweeted Sunday that McGlockton's death "should give a clear sign that Florida need(s) to take a look and make changes to Stand Your Ground."

Across the country, "stand your ground" laws haven't proven to curb crime and are fraught with "racial imbalance," said David Harris, a professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Law and host of the podcast "Criminal Injustice."

A 2015 study in the journal Social Science & Medicine found that a person charged in such cases is twice as likely to be convicted of a crime if they killed a white victim as opposed to a minority.

In the McGlockton case, the surveillance video helps to shed some light on what occurred, Harris said, but it's "not an open and shut" justification for deadly force simply because Drejka had been pushed to the ground.

Still, if prosecutors decide to charge Drejka, they will face a "heavy pretrial burden" to prove he wasn't acting in self-defense, Harris said.

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Florida's 'stand your ground' law under scrutiny after ...

USA Today NetworkWTSP-TV, Tampa-St. Petersburg, Fla. Published 8:45 a.m. ET July 23, 2018 | Updated 10:39 a.m. ET July 23, 2018

A recent decision not to charge a man who shot and killed another man in a convenience store parking lot because of Floridas stand your ground law prompted protests. USA TODAY

An argument over a handicapped parking spot turned fatal at a Florida convenience store last week. The man who fired the shot will not face charges, because of Florida's "stand your ground" law.(Photo: WilliamBunce, Getty Images/iStockphoto)

CLEARWATER, Fla. A recent decision not to charge a man who shot and killed another man ina convenience store parking lotbecause of Floridas stand your ground law prompted protest Sunday night.

Protesters gathered at the Circle A store on Sunset Point in Clearwater the scene of the shooting to express their frustration on how the Pinellas County Sheriffs Office handled the case.

It all started when Markeis McGlockton's girlfriend drove into a parking spot while he walked into the Circle A store.

During a press conference Friday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri mentioned that a regular customer of the convenience store was frustrated when he saw McGlockton's girlfriend illegally parked in the handicapped spot.

The customer and the girlfriend started yelling at each other after the customer complained to her about parking there, according to deputies.

Another customer went inside to tell the manager about a disturbance outside. McGlockton walked outside and shoved the customer to the ground.

While on the ground, the man shot and hit McGlockton in the chest. McGlokton was taken to the hospital where he was pronounced dead.

Britany Jacobs, McGlockton's girlfriend, told Good Morning America the couple's 5-year-old son also witnessed the shooting.

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The man who shot him is being cooperative with deputies and told them he was fearful for his life.

"After being slammed to the ground, he felt he was going to be further attacked," Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said.

More than 20 states have "stand your ground" laws, which generally allow the use of lethal force for self-defense without the duty of trying to escape. "Stand your ground" allows a person to use deadly force if they think they're about to face, "imminent death or great bodily harm." The law has been criticizedby parents of slain black teens Jordan Davis and Trayvon Martin.

Protesters say the circumstances of the incident shouldn't categorize it as a "stand your ground" case.Hundreds called for an arrest in the case.

More: Florida man faked his murder using a gun and a weather balloon

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Stand your ground: No charges for Florida man in parking ...

Floridas controversial self-defense law is in the news again.

The killing of Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old who was shot by another man after the two argued over a parking space on Thursday, is just the most recent in a long succession of controversies over the law commonly known as "stand your ground." Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri announced his office wouldnt charge McGlocktons killer, 47-year-old Michael Drejka, on Friday.

Heres a look back into the Tampa Bay Times archive for five times "stand your ground," which exempts from prosecution those who use deadly force to protect themselves if they fear for their lives, has made news.

From the archives: Stand your ground law protects those who go far beyond that point

1. The 2012 death of Trayvon Martin

In perhaps the most famous "stand your ground" case ever, George Zimmerman was acquitted of second-degree murder and manslaughter after killing Trayvon Martin, an unarmed black teenager.

BACK STORY: George Zimmerman found not guilty in Trayvon Martins death.

On Feb. 26, 2012, Zimmerman called the police on Martin, who was walking through his neighborhood, because he suspected Martin may have been connected to a string of local burglaries. Martin, who noticed Zimmerman following him, began to run away from the neighborhood watch volunteer. Police told Zimmerman he didnt have to pursue Martin, but Zimmerman did anyway, according to contemporaneous news media reports

of the 911 call placed by Zimmerman. The two eventually got into an altercation which left Martin dead.

Zimmerman was arrested and charged with second-degree murder and manslaughter. He claimed self defense under Floridas broad "stand your ground" law, citing injuries he sustained during the confrontation, and in 2013, he was acquitted. Martins death and Zimmermans acquittal sparked national protests and helped give rise to the national Black Lives Matter movement.

2. The 2014 Pasco County movie theater shooting

On Jan. 13, 2014, Curtis Reeves, a retired Tampa police captain took exception to a fellow moviegoers cell phone use during previews at a Wesley Chapel movie theater. He asked the man, Chad Oulson, to turn off the phone, and the two began to argue. Oulson threw a bag of popcorn at Reeves. Reeves responded by shooting Oulson in the chest, killing him.

BACK STORY: Appeals court denies challenge to stand your ground ruling in Pasco theater shooting.

Reeves has tried to claim self defense under the "stand your ground" law, but he has thus far been unsuccessful. In May, an appeals court denied his challenge to a 2017 ruling that he was not exempt from prosecution under the law. A trial date for Reeves has been set for Feb. 25, 2019. However, it is unknown to what extent recent changes to the "stand your ground law" passed by the Florida Legislature could affect Reeves case.

MORE ON THE CHANGE HERE: Florida lawmakers changed stand your ground law. Chaos followed.

3. The case that started it all in 2004

Florida lawmakers cited the case of James Workman, 77, when they called for a change to existing criminal law in 2004. Workman shot and killed Rodney Cox, 35, after Cox entered his home in the middle of the night of Nov. 2. Legislators bemoaned the fact that Workman had to spend almost three months in legal purgatory before authorities announced he would not be charged in Coxs killing.

"Youre entitled to protect your castle," Durell Peaden, a Republican state senator who sponsored the "stand your ground" law, said in 2005. "Why should you have to hire a lawyer to say, This guy is innocent?"

However, as a 2012 Tampa Bay Times story notes, the facts of the case were not as simple as lawmakers presented them. Workman never hired a lawyer. Cox did not interact with Workman until after Workman walked outside to confront the man lurking in his yard. And it was only after Workman fired a warning shot into the ground that Cox, who was likely intoxicated at the time of the incident, entered Workmans home, per the 2012 story.

BACK STORY: Floridas stand your ground law was born of 2004 case, but story has been distorted.

According to that story, the Workmans felt conflicted about the National Rifle Association-backed law their case spawned. "We didnt ask for any of this," Workmans wife, Kathryn, told the Times. And Workman said in 2005 he was "kind of in favor of" the law, but he "can see some pitfalls if you make it too loose.

4. Tampa man kills father of three in 2015; calls stand your ground hotline

In the early hours of Sept. 19, 2015, Nick Julian IV made two important phone calls. The first was a 911 call to report that he had shot an unarmed man who he claimed attacked him. The second was to the U.S. Concealed Carry Association, which at the time offered inexpensive legal counsel for members who found themselves in Julians predicament.

Julian, 26, had been arguing with Carlos Garcia, 37, for several minutes because of the loud music coming from Garcias car. Julian confronted Garcia about the music several times, and eventually the incident became violent. According to the shooters father, Garcia chased after Julian before Julian shot him.

"He came at me with something. I dont know what it was because it was dark, but I started to go towards my door, once he got me towards my screen door, I just, I had no choice, I, Im on my property" Julian told a police dispatcher in a 911 call.

BACK STORY: Tampa man shoots father of three, then calls stand your ground hotline.

Two months after the shooting, Hillsborough County State Attorney Mark Ober said he would not press charges against Julian.

5. Thursday.

Markeis McGlockton, 28, had exited a car parked in a handicap spot outside the Circle A Food Store on Sunset Point Road near Clearwater. He went into the story to buy chips and drinks, leaving his girlfriend and two of their children, ages four months and three years, in the car. He took his 5-year-old with him into the store.

THE LATEST CASE: No arrest in fatal shooting during argument over handicap parking space.

Michael Drejka, 47, a man with a reported history of taking exception to illegal parking at that store, confronted McGlocktons girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, after searching the outside of the car for proof that it could occupy a handicapped space.

A video taken of the incident showed McGlockton exiting the store and shoving Drejka to the ground. Drejka then pulled out a handgun and shot McGlockton in the chest. He owned the gun legally and had a concealed carry permit, Gualtieri said.

Friday, the sheriff announced Drejkas actions met the legal definition of self defense.

Times staff writer Kirby Wilson can be reached at [emailprotected] Follow @KirbyWTweets.

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Five times Floridas stand your ground law sparked ...

An argument over a handicapped parking spot at a convenience store in Florida led to a fatal shooting and the man who pulled the trigger wont be arrested under the states stand your ground self-defense law, authorities said.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri told reporters during a Friday press conference that Thursdays shooting death of Markeis McGlockton, a 28-year-old father of three, is within the bookends of stand your ground and within the bookends of force being justified, the Tampa Bay Times reports.

Im not saying I agree with it, but I dont make that call, Gualtieri told reporters, adding that his agency will now forward the case to the State Attorneys Office for a final decision.

Surveillance video obtained by The Post shows McGlockton walking up to Michael Drejka, 47, who was arguing with McGlocktons girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, 24, over a handicapped parking spot at the Circle A Food store on Sunset Point Road in Clearwater on Thursday.

Detectives from the sheriffs office said Jacobs had parked her 2016 Chrysler 2000 in a handicapped spot without a permit, leading to the argument with Drejka that prompted a witness to alert a clerk inside.

Thats when McGlockton, who is black, exited the store and approached Drejka, shoving him violently to the ground with both hands, surveillance video shows. While still on the ground, Drejka, who is white, then pulled out a gun and shot McGlockton, firing a single round that struck him in the chest, deputies said.

The young father then staggered back into the store and collapsed in front of the couples 5-year-old son, who is named after McGlockton, Jacobs told the Tampa Bay Times. He was pronounced dead a short time later.

Hes not too good, Jacobs said of the boy. It comes and goes, but he knows [McGlockton] is dead.

Prior to Gualtieris announcement Friday, Jacobs told the newspaper that McGlockton died from a wrongful death as a result of Drejkas actions.

Its a wrongful death, she told the newspaper earlier Friday. Its messed up. Markeis is a good man He was just protecting us, you know? And it hurts so bad.

The couple had been together since 2009 after meeting at Dunedin High School, Jacobs said. The certified nursing assistant told the newspaper she parked in the handicap spot because the parking lot was packed. Surveillance video, however, showed several open parking spaces in front of the store prior to the deadly shooting.

The couples two other children a 4-month-old and a 3-year-old were inside the car with Jacobs, she said. She is now in the process of hiring a lawyer to determine her options and next move, she told the Tampa Bay Times, adding that she wants justice on McGlocktons behalf.

Hes getting out like hes a police officer or something, and hes approaching me, she said. I minded my own business I didnt do anything wrong.

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Stand your ground law protects shooter in deadly fight over ...

A Florida man who fatally shot a father of three in an argument overparking spacewill not be arrested, because of the states stand your ground law, which protects people who act in self-defense.

Surveillance video of the incident shows Michael Drejka, 47, fatally shooting Markeis McGlockton, 28,in the chest, during a tussle over a disabled parking spot earlier this week.

At a press conference on Friday, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri revealed that Drejkas actions were within the bookends of stand your ground and within the bookends of force being justified, reported The Tampa Bay Times. Im not saying I agree with it, but I dont make that call, he said, before announcing that the State Attorneys Office will make the final decision on the case.

In the footage, Drejka could be seen arguing with McGlocktons girlfriend, Britany Jacobs, 24. Authorities confirmed that the argument started after Jacobs parked her car in a disabled parking space without a permit.

McGlockton, who was inside a store when the argument broke, came back outside and shoved Drejka to the ground with both hands. Drejka then quickly pulled out a gun and shot McGlockton once in the chest.

After suffering the gunshot wound, McGlockton made his way back into the store to his and Jacobs 5-year-old son.Shortly after, he was pronounced dead. Hes not too good, Jacobs said of their son. It comes and goes, but he knows [McGlockton] is dead.

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On Friday morning, before Gualtieri revealed that the shooter was protected by Florida law, Jacobs told The Tampa Bay Times that her boyfriend was just defending his family. Its a wrongful death, she said. Its messed up. Markeis is a good man He was just protecting us, you know? And it hurts so bad.

Michael Drejka, 47, fatally shot Markeis McGlockton, 28, on Thursday over an argument about a parking space. Screenshot

Jacobs and McGlockton met at Dunedin High School and have been dating since 2009. They have three children together, the five-year-old who witnessed the incident, a four-month-old and a three-year-old.

Jacobs, who was a certified nursing assistant, said she is seeking legal representation to challenge the stand your ground law and hold Drejka accountable for his actions. Hes getting out like hes a police officer or something, and hes approaching me, she said. I minded my own business I didnt do anything wrong.

Although the mother-of-three told The Tampa Bay Times that she only parked in the disabled spot becauseno others were available, the surveillance footage showed that several other non-handicapped spots were empty at the time of the incident.

The Pinellas County Sheriffs Office did not immediately respond to Newsweeks request for comment.

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