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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 ...
Maybe a handful of unpopped corn...traveling at 1100fps.
Are you effin nuts or was that sarcasm???
I like to consider the positive effect, in that maybe some idiots will think twice before texting, playing noisy games, or talking on cell-phones in a theater. Not unlike the way drivers suddenly became more polite to one another after that spate of CA freeway shootings.
People obviously don’t respect laws nor societal norms anymore, but having the possibility of your bad behavior result in some perturbed stranger drilling a hole in your head makes for a better, more agreeable society.
An ex cop is called a citizen. Would you advocate killing someone who threw popcorn at a regular citizen in a movie theater? For what it is worth, if this “citizen” didn’t like this man texting his 3 year old daughter.. he could have moved his seat or complained to management.
IIRC under Florida law the aggressor cannot claim self-defense. You cannot provoke a confrontation and then shoot your vic, but IANL.
So being an unarmed ass means that you should be shot??
You are a loon buddy.
If I’m on that jury - and it could be so - he has seen his last free days.
“I wonder who protects the public from retired LEO’s?”
Don’t know about retired LEOs, but the Founders organized Committees of Safety to protect themselves from the king’s henchmen. Those committees were quite effective. No reason we can’t do the same.
And in the state of Fla, as well as here in Michigan, so are your average citizens.........
Your argument could just as easily have been directed to a citizen who chose the same illegal course of action........
There is a law against texting at a movie??-idiot!
I'm with you on this. The shooter asked them to stop texting several times then got up and went to the theater management/employees and reported the situation to them. When he returned the other guy initiated a confrontation. What is not being reported is what happened and was said during that confrontation right before the shooting. If he threatened the retired cop and the man took it as a direct threat to his life then the situation changes. There is a lot in this story we do not know.
Florida does have a stand your ground law that is very clear that you have no duty to retreat of try and get away. This is a sad situation but we do not know where the legalities fall right now.
I have and will again turn someone in for texting or talking on a phone after the lights go down and I'm watching the previews or the movie. I paid for the ability to watch what I want to watch. I do not justify the cops shooting this guy but I do understand his frustration and up until he pulled the trigger he was well within his rights to do what he did and say what he said.
He has a little smirk on his face in his courtroom photo.
Life in prison at a minimum.
I wonder if the guy has undiagnosed Alzheimers.
...and he should be punished. He did the wrong thing, what he should have done is walk away.
The fact is the guy would be alive he wasn’t a jerk. Just think of all the people saved from the jerk’s behavior. I’m sure this wasn’t his first episode.
But he came back after a few minutes, without a manager and appearing upset. Moments later, the argument between the two men resumed, and the man in the front row stood up.
Officials said Mr Oulson asked Reeves if he reported him to management for using his phone.
Mr Cummings said the men started raising their voices and popcorn was thrown. Authorities said Reeves took out a gun, and Mr Oulson's wife put her hand over her husband, and that's when Reeves fired his weapon, striking Mrs Oulson in the hand and her husband in the chest.
So he left the theatre, got his gun and came back. That would make it 1st degree murder. Nice to be a cop.
A short drop and a sudden stop will cure that.
So you take their side.
Noit sure what 2nd degree murder penalty is in florida. Hopefully this hothead shooter will be put away for a long time.
Florida law also says that a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself. The shooter was not struck. He was not attacked. The victim had no weapon. Nobody in their right mind could possibly classify this as a situation where deadly force was justified.
The post had to be Sarcasm. Nobody is that damn stupid.
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