Posted on 03/16/2017 6:11:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Video of Theater Shooting link
On January 13, 2014, a retired police officer, Curtis Reeves, and his wife were preparing to watch “Lone Survivor” in a theater in the unincorporated area of Wesley Chapel, part of the Tampa Bay Florida metro complex.
Directly in front of the retired officer and his wife were another couple, Chad Oulson and his wife.
Reeves and Chad got into a dispute after Reeves asked Chad to stop using his cell phone during previews.
The case has been characterized as a retired police officer shooting someone who threw popcorn at him. I was surprised to see the reality when surveillance video of the confrontation was released. The violent confrontation took about 1.3 seconds.
During that period, Chad Oulson snatched the popcorn container from Reeves lap, flung it at his face from about a foot away, rapidly extended his hand toward Reeves face again, and pulls it back, fractions of a second before Reeves shoots. In the video, you can only see Oulson's outstretched arm and hand. The rest of him is outside the surveillance video frame.
Correction: There were two thrusts at Reeves, but the above paragraph has the sequence wrong. The first thrust is to grab the popcorn, the second is to fling the popcorn. The above paragraph states that the grabbing and flinging were in one motion, and then a second motion without the popcorn. That is incorrect. Tip of the hat to Kevin in the comments.
The outstretched Arm of Chad Oulson is under the red arrow. The container of popcorn is just to left, in flight. Head of retired officer Reeves is just to left of cup in flight, barely visible.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Have you seen Reeves’ arrest photo vs. what he looks like now?
I have not. Any idea where I could look at such?
Reeves texted his son at 1:04pm for a 1:20pm showing of Lone Survivor and wrote that he and his wife were already seated in the theater.
The accounts below say to me that the previews were playing when Reeves responded to the text message sent by his son.
How long do the previews play in your local movie theater? Mine go on for at least 30 minutes prior to the start of the feature.
Florida man accused of shooting movie-goer for texting sent text moments before:
A former police officer accused of killing a man in a movie theater during a dispute over texting had used his own phone to send a message to his son moments before the incident, according to documents released Thursday by Florida prosecutors.
Curtis Reeves' son, Matthew Reeves, told detectives that his father texted him at 1:04 p.m. Jan. 13, the documents show. Curtis Reeves told his son he was already seated inside the theater. Matthew Reeves, who is a Tampa police officer, made plans to meet his parents at the theater for the 1:20 p.m. showing of "Lone Survivor" but was late because he stopped to wash his truck, he told detectives.
Matthew Reeves said he had walked into the dark theater while the previews were playing and looked around for his parents. It was then, investigators said, that Reeves shot 43-year-old Chad Oulson.
"Matthew said he did not see the shot directly, but the noise and light drew his attention to the top row of seats," Pasco County Sheriff's detective Aaron Smith wrote.
Dear Mr. Kneejerk who posts before he reads the thread, all of the articles I've posted say the same thing.
Doh!
Don't be an a-hole. You'll eventually meet a bigger one."
Or you meet a small a-hole with a BIG gun."
Just type Curtis Reeves into google images. There are pictures of him in a ballistic vest shirtless at his arraignment to compare to current pics.
And you are more informed?
If you think it’s only about popcorn, then you aren’t very bright.
I've been following the case since 2014. You?
In the theater, no one knows if you text. You only disturb others if you're speaking. Surely you can see the difference.
Just as there's a huge difference between verbal and physical confrontation.
Juries can be a rogue element, but given the realities of this case... even an LA Jury isn’t going to let him off.
No we don’t have speculation, we have not only the raw video, which clearly show his actions, and we know he complained, the guy ignored him... he complained to the manager, who told him they weren’t going to intervene... he then went out to his gar to retrieve his gun return and again confronted the man on his phone....
We know he changed his story several times about what happened. We know his attempt to argue stand your ground was applicable here was denied, because as the judge stated, the video, his own previous testimony and the testimony of witnesses did not corroborate his attempt to claim it was justified.
This isn’t a bunch of conjecture...
But forget all that... if you look at this video, and you believe this man engaged in a legal and justifiable action, you truly need to go get yourself educated about what is the legal acceptable use of deadly force to protect yourself and others, because you are wholly ignorant of the law.
Per phone records, Oulson was neither texting nor talking. He was simply playing with his phone while the previews were running.
It was the light coming from the display that caused Reeves to become upset.
Just as there's a huge difference between verbal and physical confrontation.
One of the first rules when carrying a concealed weapon is to avoid confrontation and to de-escalate a confrontational situation. Reeves did neither.
Reeves initiated the contact by leaning forward to tell Oulson to stop using his phone. When Oulson told Reeves to go 'F' himself, Reeves went out to complain to the management. Reeves went back into the theater and continued to harass Oulson, which caused Oulson to go off the deep end.
It was Reeves own ego that precipitated the confrontation, then further escalated it which resulted in the shooting death of Oulson. That's why he's in jail awaiting trial for second-degree murder.
That’s entirely possible. It’s also possible he was a victim of PC.
This guys going to jail, and rightly so... And those trying to spin him as some sort of hero, or victim, are just truly ignorant.
I'd forgotten that Reeves left the theater to get his gun after management told him they weren't going to intervene.
Not sure what 'that' you're talking about, but everything I wrote is in the record.
Victim of PC, as in political correctness? Really?
Oulson was the victim of a retired cop who was used to ordering people around and didn't understand that he wasn't a cop any more.
Do you know Reeves personally?
Do you? Is that why are you defending Reeves' actions?
Yeah, that's obvious.
You forgot to mention that Chad Oulson was a living saint. Every day, he rescued puppies, kittens, small children and their mothers from burning buildings. He served hot meals to the homeless. He could leap tall buildings in a single bound. The autopsy report confirmed Oulson had angel wings and a halo.
“You forgot to mention that Chad Oulson was a living saint. Every day, he rescued puppies, kittens, small children and their mothers from burning buildings. He served hot meals to the homeless. He could leap tall buildings in a single bound. The autopsy report confirmed Oulson had angel wings and a halo.”
What a callous and ignorant comment.
Chad Oulson was an Iraq war veteran. He was texting their baby sitter to check the status of their daughter who was sick.
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