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White man gets 20 years for shooting Black man in parking lot

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A White man who shot and killed an unarmed Black man in parking lot has been sentenced to 20 years, report multiple news outlets including NBC News. The murder occurred during a dispute over a handicapped parking space in Florida last year.

Michael Drejka, who fatally shot Markeis McGlockton, 28, outside a Clearwater convenience store in July 2018, was found guilty of manslaughter in August. On Thursday, McGlockton’s family addressed Drejka before he was sentenced.

“In the Bible, it says in order to get into heaven, we must forgive those who trespass against us. At this point in my life, I am not there yet. And if it just so happens that the Lord chooses to take me before I come to terms with this, then I will see you in hell where you and I will finish this. Mark my words,” his father, Michael McGlockton, told Drejka.

Drejka faced a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison, and will receive credit for about three months already served. He chose not to speak Thursday and showed no emotion when he was sentenced. His defense team requested Thursday that the judge depart from manslaughter sentencing guidelines and give Drejka less time or release him on probation, saying he had no prior record and had shown remorse. But Circuit Judge Joseph Bulone said that the defense showed the jury that Drejka was a “wannabe law enforcement officer” who made a hobby out of monitoring the parking spot at the Clearwater Circle A Food Store.

When the store’s owner asked him to stop acting as a keeper of the space, which was “not even the best space in the whole parking lot,” because it was leading to altercations, he simply started bringing a gun with him, Bulone said.

“The jury found that the defendant did not act reasonably or responsibly,” Bulone said before handing down the sentence. He added that, to him, the “most ironic thing about this case” was that Drejka had parked illegally to scold someone for parking illegally.

McGlockton was unarmed, and video surveillance and autopsy results indicated he was turning away from Drejka when he was shot. Prosecutors said that Drejka started the altercation by confronting Jacobs because she was parked with her children in the handicapped space. They said Drejka had no reason to fire as McGlockton was retreating.

“Believe your own eyes. The gun comes out, Markeis doesn’t step forward,” Bulone said Thursday. “No one really used perfect justice in this case,” he said. “But the evidence in this case shows the defendant created conflict and created confrontation and shot and killed an unarmed man who was backing up and retreating and trying to save his own life by retreating once his saw the firearm.”

McGlockton “died right in front of his young son,” Bulone said. The judge also noted that he never heard Drejka express remorse. “Because of you, Michael Drejka, Markeis is now a memory,” McGlockton’s mother, Monica Robinson, told him directly Thursday. “I don’t hate you, but I will never forgive you.”

Drejka did not testify on his own behalf during the trial, which was in Clearwater. Drejka, who has a concealed weapons license, was initially not arrested due to Florida’s “stand your ground” law. Almost a month after the shooting though, local prosecutors charged him with manslaughter.

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