Thursday morning, prosecutors played Michael Drejka’s interview with Pinellas County detectives,
Richard “Ricky” Kelly, an employee at AA Septic Company, testified about a previous threatening incident with Drejka at that same convenience store similar to the fatal shooting.
Kelly, who drives a tanker, said he went to the Circle A convenience store in February 2018 and parked in a handicap-accessible spot. He went inside the store and when he came out, he saw Drejka taking pictures of his tanker.
They got into a dispute about the parking spot, as Drejka said his mother was disabled, and the situation quickly escalated.
“He said, ‘I should shoot you, kill you,'” Kelly said.
Drejka walked back to his own vehicle and then walked back toward Kelly, he testified. Finally, the owner of the store came out to calm down the situation, and Kelly then left the scene, he said.
Kelly’s boss, John Tyler, then received a phone call from Drejka about the incident, Tyler testified. Drejka said his employee had been parked in a handicap-accessible spot and had been rude, Tyler testified.
“He said, ‘If I had a gun, I could have shot him,'” Tyler testified. “I said, ‘I’m sorry that you would feel that way. I carry a gun and my training I was taught to remove myself from those situations. Don’t let yourself get into those situations.'”
The conversation continued in circles, so they agreed to disagree, Tyler said.
Florida Man Charged In Deadly Parking Lot Shooting Said He Feared For His Life
