My initial point in my first post #7 on this thread was that the gun-grabbers are going to point to this tragic instance and claim it's time to end conceal/carry. They're gonna make as much political hay out of this as they can.
Others who compare this situation to George Zimmerman completely miss the point: Zimmerman was attacked using lethal force from the get-go. There was no escalation. Trayvon Martin blind-sided him and told him flat out he was going to kill him as he banged his head on the cement. That is what the court testimony bore out and that's also what Zimmerman's injuries bore out.
That is a far cry from being 'assaulted' for lack of a better term, with a bucket of popcorn.
Further, the retired Cop has been reported to have had complaints with other movie goers (as was reported in our news) recently over texting and phone calls in movies. Perhaps his "frustration" got the best of him. Or maybe his finger twitched on the trigger and he shot the man unintentionally.
Or maybe ... just maybe ... he shouldn't have had the gun out in the first place as NOTHING that's been reported thus far indicates any reason for the retired officer to pull his weapon. So why was the weapon out in the first place? That's the real question to be answered here. Either there was a direct threat, or the retired cop was being a bully. It's one or the other, there's no grey area in situations like this.
If, for example, the defendant returned to the theater and DID choose to sit somewhere more distant from the texter, and the texter is the one who sought out the defendant for a second confrontation, and if the texter outweighs the defendant by 100 pounds ......
All hypothetical. Not worth considering until more facts come out. However as I said above, there was either a direct threat, or the retired officer was being a bully on a power trip and thought he could intimidate someone into complying with what he wanted. It's going to be one or the other.
For those who think that there was time for the defendant to assess the situation while drawing his gun, I can assure you that I can draw my .380 from a pocket holster and fire in just over one second. Not much is going to change in that one second and the justification for shooting is unlikely to disappear if it did, in fact, exist.
Now I think *that* is a spot-on observation. When the facts finally come out, if there was some justification for the shooting it should be readily and easily apparent. (I'll be damn'ed if I know what "justification" there could be in this case ... but then all the facts aren't out.
As others have pointed out, this is probably a lose-lose situation not only for the actors in the drama, but for the entire nation. Concealed carry takes a hit. Cops take a hit. Even texting and movie-going take a hit.
Ours is becoming an increasingly hostile society which is the problem. One ignorant person acts rudely to someone else and the next thing we know the escalation starts. I see it every day. Someone thinks they got "dissed" and they feel like they need to strike back in some way whether verbally or physically. It's no wonder we have shootings like this. Civility is gone. Talking through our problems is gone. It's all about who can shout someone else down or escalate higher than the next guy until the other guy backs down.
None of this ends well.
There is no lack of a better term. If a person angrily throws popcorn at you, that is an assault. The severity of the assault depends upon the other factors I mentioned.
If that young angry man was approaching rapidly with intention to physically attack, I would definitely anticipate the possibility of great bodily harm. If the popcorn throwing occurred in such a manner that I believed that the person would continue approaching, then I can see being justified in drawing and firing.
What is your evidence that the incident was going to end after the throwing of the popcorn?
Reeves was only following his training.
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?
Nutshell.