Posted on 01/14/2014 2:04:00 PM PST by centurion316
A 43-year-old father was shot dead by a retired cop in a Florida cinema after a row about him texting his three-year-old daughter as they waited for the movie to start, witnesses said.
Chad Oulson was shot in front of his wife and horrified movie-goers during an argument with 71-year-old Curtis Reeves.
The victim's wife, Nicole, was injured in the shooting after holding her hands out to try to shield Mr Oulson during the confrontation at a movie theater near Tampa on Monday.
After Reeves fired at his chest the victim was heard saying: 'I can't believe I got shot', according to Fox News.
Reeves, who is facing life in prison if found guilty, has been charged with second-degree murder. During a hearing on Tuesday he appeared via video link, wearing a green suicide smock - a fire resistant outfit that can't be torn or turned into a noose.
The judge ruled he should be held without bond because of the severity of the charges, but the no bond ruling can't be confirmed until a live hearing with Reeves.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
this older guy is just an arrogant jerk....he had every opportunity to leave before being critically wounded by that supposed popcorn, and it can be argued, he came back to the scene....he not only didn't retreat, he specifically engaged this younger man....
Where did you read that? At least you have nice imagination going for ya.
The dude shot an unarmed man thru his ex-wife’s hand who was restraining him. That right there would have told me he was out of control and a high probability of going on a rampage.
He should have been put down hard.
Wife’s hand...
I don’t know, why not ask her?
Any idiot who finds it imperative to phone and text inside a movie is one of those “victims” looks for someone to offend them.
..like being cut off in traffic, or having someone with 11 items in the 10 item line, or using the last bit of TP without replacing it, or taking the last scoop of mac and cheese at Golden Corral, you know, all the really BIG annoyances out there..
..well, there would be millions shot and killed because every day there are annoying people in our lives....
with this creeps big police pensions, I hope if nothing else his whole estate is taken for very single penny to compensate for his arrogance...
There may have been un-popped kernels...
Uncle Chip,
Most of the time I can side with you(GZ)) but you need to back up that speculation with something other than HLN Tv! Cold Hard Facts are accepted.
The police report and the Detectives have not said he did any such thing.
“Just the facts, Sir!” to quote Sgt. Joe Friday.
Like it or not he is not required by Florida law to leave or retreat. Like it or not he does not have to be wounded, actually struck, or critically wounded to fall under the stand your ground law. All that is necessary is for him to believe that he is being threatened with great and/or grievous bodily harm or death.
I was not there but it is implied in the witness accounts that when the shooter returned that it was the shooting victim who initiated the confrontation not the shooter. If you believe that all of these things you said were right and correct then they were also right and correct for the victim and his wife they should have left and not assaulted another person. At best it is a toss up at that point. It becomes unequal when one of them took it from a verbal confrontation to a physical confrontation. That person was the dead victim. From there it spiraled out of control and turned out very wrong.
When we go to a theater we pay to see everything they put on the screen the movie and the previews. The comments about it being before the movie don't work for me. The warnings about not using electronic devices always come on several times starting before the previews start.
There are many things in this situation that never should have happened. There are many things about this situation we do not know. Were there verbal threats made? What words were spoken or yelled and who was responsible for them? I was not there and I do not know the whole story so I will not act as if I were there and know the facts. I will not rush to judgment based on what the media says or the opinions of those who were not there. Even in other cases where stand your ground laws were found to apply the shooters were first arrested and the legal process started. The finding of SYG came later from a different legal hearing.
The last thing that you are really not going to like is if they find that this shooter is covered under the SYG laws that he is immune from further prosecution under different laws or statutes in Florida. He will walk.
More insults, how intelligent. Try the facts, all the facts and waiting for the truth to come out in the legal process. I know it takes more maturity than jumping to conclusions but in the end it is worth while and much more adult. I also get that you do not like guns in the hands of other people. Just a guess but I get it. The SCOTUS does not agree with you and I'll go with them on this one.
Sadly, if you removed the word, “retired” and replaced it will, “off duty”, his blue line would investigate and find that he acted within department policy and that the shooting was justified.
Just depends on how you’re standing at the moment apparently.
Cops? Get rid of them all. I will deal with any menace that darkens my doorstep without their assistance and “professionalism.” Enough is enough!
Brings to mind the case of another Floriduh law enforcer, namely the late Assistant US Attorney John Atchison, who was busted in Detroit while on the trail of what he thought was a five-year-old.
Guess they must have invented that trick vest sometime later. Waste of money. Bring back Old Sparky!
You’re a gutless excuse, FRiend.
Do you? Specifically anything that might indicate that the shooter was faced with great bodily harm if he didn't use deadly force?
I hope you are kidding because nobody is that stupid to defend this...
If you're still licking the boots of a murderer, then you have a sociopathic disorder.
I have carried a firearm for a living while involved in Law Enforcement.
Sure you did. And while you were a crossing guard, how many kids did you shoot in the head for chewing gum?
The reality that you may come in contact with someone who wants to "even a score" are not confined to just while you are on duty or before they retire.
And people who want to "even the score" with you, do they normally get their "revenge" by texting without your permission until you shoot them?
He may be a little cranky and not like people breaking the rules but that does not make him a killer.
Shooting a man in his chest through his wife's hand for texting before the movie started makes him a killer. Your lickspittle excuses for him and support of the murder he committed shows your gun is the only manhood you've ever had.
Previous incident involving the shooter
http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/15/...ovie-theater-shooting/
During Reeves’ first court appearance on Tuesday, prosecutors said they have heard from another theater patron who said the 71-year-old former Tampa cop saw her texting and “glared at her the entire time throughout the movie” during a screening about three weeks ago.
When the woman got up to use the restroom, Reeves followed her and “made her very uncomfortable,” prosecutors said.
CNN affiliate WTSP later identified the woman as Jamira Dixon of Wesley Chapel, the Tampa suburb where Monday’s shooting took place.
“He became just upset about the whole situation and kept staring and kept giving us dirty looks,” Dixon told the station.
Dixon said she first heard about Monday’s shooting on the radio while she was driving.
“I had to pull over the car because ... it could have been us,” she said. “It was just so close to home. It really makes you think how things could have went.”
If you start shooting in a theater with your eyes closed, try explaining that to a jury & judge just before you are sent to jail for shooting an innocent bystander. They will laugh you right out of the court & into a jail cell. And that house, car, GUNS, & saving account you HAD will go to YOUR victim(s), their families, & their lawyers.
Furthermore, if you start shooting in a theater, other armed audience members are then fully justified in riddling your body with numerous holes. As the first shooter, YOU are the bad guy. That pretty much negates the popcorn defense, permanently, as a jury will never hear it.
Nobody in their right mind would start shooting in a theater unless there was no other option. The retired cop had numerous other options as I have previously outlined. I suspect a psych exam will show mental illness. Mental illness is common to these kinds of shootings.
In shooting this theater goer this retired cop has very likely ruined his own life. He may not be criminally convicted of murder, but it is very likely he will pay dearly in civil court. His name will be added, rightly or not, to the dishonor roll of theater shooters for all time. And if he is a sane, moral man, he will shamefully regret this the rest of his life.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.