News / Military
By Howard Altman / Tampa Bay Times / June 22, 2016
PHOTO: Tim Martin was shot and killed during an altercation at SoHo Backyard in November in Tampa.
TAMPA — Relatives of a former Navy SEAL who was shot and killed in a confrontation at a South Tampa restaurant say prosecutors have told them the shooter will not be charged because of the state’s “stand your ground” law.
Nearly six months after Timothy Martin was killed in November at the SoHo Backyard, prosecutors informed his family that manager Jeffrey Glenn acted in self-defense when he fired the fatal shot, said Nathan Fager, Martin’s brother.
“It came down to whether a reasonable person in Jeffrey Glenn’s shoes would have a reasonable fear of imminent injury or death,” said Fager, speaking by phone from Michigan. “And that became clear as they looked at the evidence that a reasonable person in Jeffrey Glenn’s shoes would have been afraid.”
The State Attorney’s Office would not comment because the case is still pending, said spokesman Mark Cox. Glenn, who had not heard yet from the office, declined to comment.
Martin had broken up with his girlfriend, who worked at SoHo Backyard, and was trying to win her back, Fager said.
Shortly after 2:30 a.m. Sunday, Nov. 29, police answered a call from manager Glenn and found Martin on the ground at the entrance to the bar at 610 S Armenia Ave. He had a gunshot wound to the head.
There were two other people in the bar, one without a shirt, according to a police affidavit.
“We were in a fight and I shot him,” a man later identified as Glenn said. “Don’t you see my shirt out front?”
Glenn told police the weapon he used was inside and they found a black, semiautomatic handgun on the bar. They found a red shirt on the ground just outside the porch entrance and a fragment of matching red cloth in the parking lot.
Tampa police investigated and turned the case over to the State Attorney’s Office.
Florida’s “stand your ground” law, adopted in 2005, allows individuals under certain circumstances to use deadly force in defense of their lives or property with no obligation to retreat or flee.
The law has come under fire, especially after the 2012 shooting death of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a neighborhood watch volunteer in Sanford. Earlier this year, the state Legislature shot down a measure that would have shifted the burden of proof in a pretrial hearing from defendants to prosecutors, requiring them to prove “by clear and convincing evidence” why a defendant could not claim a stand your ground defense.
Fager said prosecutors read him dozens of text messages that they considered to be threatening, sent by his brother to a SoHo Backyard employee. They told him the threats were aimed at Glenn, the bar’s general manager, and other employees.
Martin was suffering from depression and post-traumatic stress disorder.
As he listened to the texts, Fager said, he was hearing his brother reaching out.
“The death of my brother is a sad end to a man who was greatly struggling,” Fager said. “He was crying for help and an opportunity was missed to provide him the help he needed. Instead, he was viewed as a threat and unnecessary harm came about as a result.”
Prosecutors also told him about at least two incidents where, after drinking alcohol, Martin “got violent and displayed threatening behavior” toward individuals at the bar.
“That also spoke against my brother in the sense that Jeffrey Glenn used that information in his mind to develop this reasonable fear,” Fager said.
Martin served five years until 2007 as a Navy Sea-Air-Land, or SEAL, commando. He left, in part, because he could not bring himself to kill, his brother said.
He had been deployed as a contractor overseas through much of the 4 1/2 years between December 2007 and May 2012, and acted and advised on the films Zero Dark Thirty and Green Zone, according to his LinkedIn page.
Martin moved to Tampa but struggled financially and his marriage ended in divorce. A domestic-violence injunction was issued against him last year at the request of his ex-wife.
He volunteered for Tampa Bay Frogman Swim events, a fundraiser for the Navy SEAL Foundation.
Fager said the family’s main concern now is for the future well-being of Martin’s 5-year-old son, Rocco Martin. As a result, they are considering civil action in connection with Martin’s death.
For the family, learning no charges would be filed was not unexpected but still is hard to accept. “Sunday was Father’s Day,” Fager said. “Monday was Rocco’s birthday. And Tuesday we learned his killer was not going to go to jail. It was like a one-two-three punch.”
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