Dispute over parking spot leads to fatal shooting in Clearwater

A Clearwater man is facing first-degree murder charges, and police say the incident started with a fight over a parking spot. 

"It's just a parking spot. It's not that serious," said Mersades Katz, witness to the shooting. 

Katz told FOX 13 that her boyfriend, 26-year-old Deshon Powers, is the suspect.

"I've never known him to do you know things like that unless he feels him or his family or somebody that he's close to is in danger," she said.

Powers is accused of shooting and killing 31-year-old Derek Omasta. 

Witnesses say Omasta became aggressive when he couldn't park in a designated spot between their Airbnb rentals in the 1100 block of Grove Street.

"They think they're entitled to that parking spot, but those are spots for the whole Airbnb," Powers' roommate, Travis McNeil, explained. 

Police say Omasta and Powers argued, and at some point Powers went into his apartment to get his gun. 

According to investigators, the argument ended when Powers shot Omasta. 

First responders arrived and took him to the hospital, but he was pronounced dead a short time later. 

Powers' friends say there's more to the story.

"Deshon thought he had a knife because [Omasta] was reaching around in his pocket for something," Katz said. 

However, police have not released any information on what items were recovered from the scene. 

Though they disagree with police on who's to blame, Powers' girlfriend agreed that the incident should have ended differently.

"It's plenty of parking on the road, like you didn't have to do that," Katz said. "The car was parked right there to the end of the parking lot, you could have parked in the street like every normal person would have done. It's ridiculous." 

For his first-degree murder charge, Powers could be sentenced to death or life in prison.