Accused Movie Theater Shooter Said He Was 'In Fear of Being Attacked'

Yahoo News/Good Morning America ^ | STEVE OSUNSAMI, SENI TIENABESO and COLLEEN CURRY (GMA)

[Anton.Rutter]

The elderly man accused of shooting a movie theater patron in Florida after an argument over text messaging told police that he fired because he "was in fear of being attacked."

Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco said at a news conference today that the victim, Chad Oulson, 43, was texting his young daughter's babysitter when an argument erupted with Reeves over texting during previews before the movie "Lone Survivor."

[bobby.223]

Hi troops! We have a joker....

[Revolting cat!]

The real Caucasians, i.e those from Georgia and Chechnya, are real crazy!

[Anton.Rutter]

It makes you equal if your manhood is unequal to the task.

[kiryandil]

No, you dolt, the texter started the confrontation by violating the rules of the cinema. Try to keep up.

Do you get your Stupid Pills on Amazon, or is it cheaper to buy them locally?

[kiryandil]

One of the problems here is that police are taught "CONFRONTATION".

Reeves was only following his training.

[NautiNurse]

Would you agree there are social media addicts who become agitated and potentially unhinged when faced with turning off their texterrific widget for two waking hours?

[babygene]

“The older guy feared for his safety after popcorn is thrown at him.”

Feared for his safety doesn’t cut it... He’s got to fear for his life. Shooting a man armed with a bag of popcorn is murder. A reasonable person wouldn’t have done this. Even if the victim had punched him in the nose it wouldn’t have justified shooting.

[babygene]

“I completely agree, and I hope the ex-cop goes away if he’s in the wrong. I’m just unwilling to prejudge based on a bias against cops.”

Cops are to homo sapiens as pit bulls are to K9’s... Live with it. Both earned their reputations.

[babygene]

“There is light and a repeated “click click clickty click click click click” sound.”

Last time I went to a movie, some x-cop threatened to shoot me because my hearing aid was squealing....

[babygene]

“he 71 year old cop knew he was no match for the younger man and had to defend himself from great bodily harm.”

Defending yourself with a gun because you thought someone “might” through a punch at you doesn’t cut it....

[Gene Eric]

I propose we triple the pay, require 4 years of education, 130+ IQ, eliminate immunity, and eliminate bennies & pensions.

[sagar]

“It makes you equal if your manhood is unequal to the task.”

Not sure whether you mean flinging your penis at the thugs when you speak of “manhood”, but a gun works pretty well, thank you very much.

[cynwoody]

example, shooting at a bank robber shooting at you, but you miss and kill a child a block away...that's murder.

Nope. That's less culpable than a hunting accident.

If I'm on the jury, it's a mistrial, and I call a presser afterward to congratulate myself on wasting the taxpayers' money.

[cynwoody]

If you are the one who started the argument and things go bad, you forfeit the right of self defence.

In practice, that's not very helpful.

For instance, there's a suspicious guy lurking in your enclosed condo complex, which has seen its share of crime. You follow him, call 911 on him, and then you lose track of him. So, you get out of your truck and try to see where he went so you can update the responders when they get there (real soon now). Suddenly, the guy pops up out of the shadows and pins you to the ground and starts banging your head against the pavement. During the struggle, he realizes you have a gun. But you grab it before he can, point at his chest, and boom! He dead!

So. When did the "argument" start? When the "intruder" got pissed off that he was being profiled by da Man? Or when the intruder jumped the shooter, figuring he was going to mess up da Man for once?

[mabarker1]

So I’m kinda, maybe, possibly, sorta off the hook?

Thanks

[mabarker1]

Na, the dog puked 4 times in about 90 seconds so “CLEANUP! SECTORS 7,9,11 & 15”

[Anton.Rutter]

Not sure whether you mean flinging your penis at the thugs when you speak of “manhood”, but a gun works pretty well, thank you very much.

Your billy badass act is a neon sign to anyone on the street that in your case, your gun IS your manhood. It's all you've got.

I see upsides to this story. A texter is dead, plus an unstable mental freak is going to jail and will face financial and rectum ruins.

Shoot those who threaten or assault you, only then you will have polite and respectful society.

This is what your father taught you a man is? Let alone the ammunition you're freely giving away to DU. They won't be signing it "an isolated idiot at FR" it'll just be "FR".

[Anton.Rutter]

Not sure whether you mean flinging your penis at the thugs when you speak of “manhood”, but a gun works pretty well, thank you very much.

Your billy badass act is a neon sign to anyone on the street that in your case, your gun IS your manhood. It's all you've got.

I see upsides to this story. A texter is dead, plus an unstable mental freak is going to jail and will face financial and rectum ruins.

Shoot those who threaten or assault you, only then you will have polite and respectful society.

This is what your father taught you a man is? Let alone the ammunition you're freely giving away to DU. They won't be signing it "an isolated idiot at FR" it'll just be "FR".

If the old guy hadn’t been a cop, these people wouldn’t be singing praises of St. Travon with Popcorn.

"St. Trayvon" was Chad Oulson, a petty officer in the U.S. Navy, a veteran with a new family. He was worth a hell of a lot more than a senior citizen with a God complex and certainly more than a shipful of guttersnipes like you.

But that doesn't matter as long as there's any excuse to shoot someone...it's a good thing they didn't bring their baby to the theatre.

You don't see three people. You see three pulls of your trigger.

[DoodleDawg]

An armed society is a polite society.

Because being rude is a capitol offense? What makes you think that the shooter wasn't as big a jerk about the whole situation? And that the whole thing spun out of control because if his being a bigger jerk than the texter? Is the armed jerk always the right one?

My guess is that the fact the shooter was assulted before the shooting will play a pivotal role in the trial

My expectation is that because there is no evidence whatsoever that the shooter was in imminent danger of great bodily harm, he will be convicted of second degree murder and will spend the rest of his life in an environment where people won't put up with his bullying and his bluster.

[Balding_Eagle]

“Because being rude is a capitol offense?”

The old adage says nothing about legal or illegal. It focuses only on polite and impolite.

“Is the armed jerk always the right one?”

Doesn’t matter, he is the more deadly of the two, as shown in this case.

Regarding the assault, based on my observations over the past 30 years here in the Colorado Springs area, a relatively conservative area, shooters have a fairly good chance of going free if the shooting occurs following the shooter being assaulted.

There have been a number of cases locally where the shooter not only wasn’t even charged, but also was given the protection of the law prohibiting civil suits. That includes a case of a woman leaning out of an upstairs window and killing a rude exboyfriend who was pounding on her front door. Also a drunk kid pounding on someones sliding glass door. IIRC, he was shot and killed through the glass.

It may be different in FL, but I’m not so sure. My money would be on the shooter going free.

When under assault, it’s reasonable for the victim to consider the risk of great bodily harm. What appears to be only popcorn may be something more dangerous,including the likelihood that the toss may only be a foil to follow thru with a fist

Don’t mess with us old guys, we know we aren’t as strong as some young buck anymore so we might just go straight for the gun. And be polite to us.