OCALA, Fla.,None — A teenager who shot and killed a man at an Ocala bowling alley has been cleared of criminal charges all because of a controversial law called "Stand Your Ground." The shooting victim's family is now trying to get that law overturned.
What happened last month outside an Ocala bowling alley may have triggered a challenge to state law.
"Children are going to fight," said the victim's aunt, Dwabachi White.
White wants justice for her nephew, Antonio Gordon. The 19-year old was shot to death after a late night fight at Galaxy Lanes.
Police say the fight started inside the business, spilled out into this parking lot, and ended with gunshots fired by 17-year-old Marqualle Woolbright.
At first, Woolbright was charged with murder, a charge that has now been dropped. A memo from Assistant State Attorney Richard Ridgway concluded such a prosecution would not succeed.
"You don't have to fight. Get a gun and kill. And you're gonna be covered under this 'stand your ground law,'" White said.
The 6-year-old law allows a person to use deadly force if someone enters their home or occupied vehicle.
"It's been controversial in the community. It hasn't been controversial in the courts," WFTV legal analyst Bill Sheaffer said.
Sheaffer says, in this case, shooting victim Gordon reached into a Jeep that Woolbright and four others had retreated to and began slugging one of the occupants. Under the law, if Woolbright was "reasonably in fear" he could "stand his ground."
"If you don't like the law, the legislature needs to change it," Sheaffer said.
White intends to try.
"If I have to rally all the way to Tallahassee, I am, because this law is going to be reversed," she said.
The victim's aunt says she has already started a petition drive as part of a grassroots effort to challenge the Stand Your Ground law.
WFTV
