In my state in Australia, which is frankly one of the most backward, you cannot use force likely to cause death or Greivous Bodily Harm in self defence unless you are in genuine fear for your life. I suspect the law is the same in Florida. Otherwise it is the Southpark Scenario of yelling, 'he's coming right for us' before shooting whoever you like.
Aside from that, I am absolutely fucking amazed that the Police even mentioned two things:
First - that they respect his background
Second - that his record is squeaky clean.
Neither are in anyway relevant to whether this event was a crime or whether a charge should be laid. Neither would be admissable in a trial.