After studying scripture in jail, DOMENICO C. GIGANTE conceded the state’s case against him and pleaded guilty Aug. 27 to murdering four people including his daughter in 2023.

State Attorney William Scheiner said the state will continue to seek the death sentence for Gigante due to aggravating factors in his burglary and rampage shootings in Canaveral Groves. Because Gigante, 40, waived his right to a trial and a penalty hearing before a jury, Brevard County Circuit Judge Laura Moody alone will decide his sentence at a hearing in late October or early November.

“My end goal today is to take full accountability,” Gigante, a former emergency medical technician, said at a plea hearing in Viera. “I know what I did was evil and wrong. I’m here to get on my knees … and for justice to be served for those affected by what I’ve done.”

In the early morning hours of March 1, 2023, Gigante left his Rockledge home and drove to a house on Alan Shepard Avenue northwest of Cocoa. Angered by a strained relationship with his 15-year-old biological daughter, Gigante broke into the house where she and Gigante’s ex-partner lived with their new blended family while they slept.

Once inside, Gigante fatally shot the daughter, her mother, her grandmother, and the mother’s new roommate. Two younger children, ages 6 and 9, survived unharmed and called a relative for help after Gigante fled, shortly before 2 a.m.

Investigators from the Brevard County Sheriff’s Office quickly identified Gigante as the suspect and arrested him in Rockledge later that day. The Brevard County Grand Jury indicted Gigante on four counts of first-degree premeditated murder with a firearm and one count of armed burglary with a firearm.

In its notice of intent to seek the death penalty, the State Attorney’s Office cited multiple aggravating factors outlined in Florida statutes including that Gigante:  

• Committed multiple murders
• Killed his own daughter, a person under his familial authority
• Committed the crimes in a “cold, calculated and premeditated manner”
• Did so while committing burglary, itself a first-degree felony punishable by up to life in prison. 

In July, Gigante chose to drop his public defender and represent himself. After changing his plea Aug. 27, Gigante told Judge Moody, “The state doesn’t need to prove anything beyond a reasonable doubt. I’m guilty, and I meet the aggravating factors. I have no interest in appealing.”