Man Fatally Shot For Texting In A Movie Theater

[jaymes_e06]

He bought it from the gun store...

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

'murrica!

 

[Godzilla2000]

Really, what logical sense does it make that handguns are easily accessible? You don't hunt fowl or fauna with a pistol do you?

 

[SV Fan]

He bought it from the gun store...

Given it's Florida I wouldn't be surprised if he ordered a Large Popcorn, Large Soda and a Gun before he entered the theater

 

[The Hill]

Shooting was a tad bit extreme. However, the texter should have been violently punished. Especialy after he went to the employees.

 

[jonathancrane]

Don't get me wrong: I hate people who text during films with a hatred that burns hotter than the furnaces of hell. However, I do not wish any physical harm upon them, let alone death. This incident is horrifying and a reminder that we need to reform some of our laws.

 

[DaRkVeNgeanCe]

I've almost gotten into fist fights because of people texting in the theater or just playing with their phone I also used to flick quarters at the back of their heads as well to piss them off but shoot them dead? I call that insanity!

 

[Pink Ranger]

The footage of how he was lead to the police car, cop walking in front of him, handcuffed in the front, for comfort? He did just kill a man. Or is that standard operating procedure?

I am not a law enforcement official, but I remember reading somewhere that in many jurisdictions it is SOP to handcuff in front of the body, not behind, so the officer can always see what the suspect is doing with his hands.

 

[Feenix]

Really, what logical sense does it make that handguns are easily accessible? You don't hunt fowl or fauna with a pistol do you?

The pro-gun lobbyists don't care about logic. It's all about their "rights."

 

[DarkSovereignty]

"Oh no, dey Gon take er gerns ner."

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

What ever happen to people just getting into physical fights, why does everything have to end with someone getting shot and killed? A lot of gun owners are cowards.

It's Florida so it makes one wonder if he'll use "Stand Your Ground" or maybe he won't and still get off scott free. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if he got off scott free, as a matter of fact I'm just going to expect that he will. Maybe Florida will surprise me for once and he'll get some sort of punishment, we will see.

 

[Teelie]

He's already doing that, claiming he "feared for his life" even though no one else in the theater seems to be corrobrating that side of the incident.

 

[SpeterMan3]

So yeah, this is around the corner from me. Walking distance. Yay.

 

[Xeno]

When you go to a theater turn your fricken cell phone off, it's rude to other people who want to enjoy the movie. Maybe I am overstating he should have been shot, but fact still stands the guy shouldn't have been texting

Sure, he was rude (it would have been worse during the movie) but that theater was nowhere near full. Either of them could have moved to different seats quite easily and defused the situation. The older man had a lot of choices he could have made that wouldn't have ended in murder.

That last part scares me. This murderous piece of sh** better not get any special treatment just because he used to be a cop.

He's already getting special treatment from his fellow cops. When he gets to jail they'll make sure he's nice and comfy, too, under the guise of protecting a former law enforcement officer from the general population. Don't be shocked if he either gets off when it goes to trial or the judge and prosecutor make a deal for some ridiculously lenient sentence, either. He might even make a "Stand Your Ground" case by saying that the texter scared him because he's old and feeble. Lethal amounts of popcorn were thrown, after all. That's how it goes.

 

[Teelie]

It's only a matter of time until either a serial killer uses stand your ground as a defense for their killing people.

 

[Dispatch Ninja]

I am usually against senseless uses of guns but the guy who was texting deserved it

People who use their phones before a movie starts deserve to be killed? Are you insane?

 

[TheDreamMaster]

'murrica!

God I hate this. I was watching a Canadian livestream the other day making jokes about it like this and talking about how much they hated America and such. I'm not patriotic, but I don't want to see the country go down the toilet any more than it has though. Apparently we're either fat (which I am, so score one for stereotypes I guess), or stupid. Why? Cause 'Murrica! Just annoying to me, and all this gun violence the media keeps playing up lately certainly isn't helping the cause.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

He's already doing that, claiming he "feared for his life" even though no one else in the theater seems to be corrobrating that side of the incident.

Yeah I heard that on the news and of course my blood boiled. Why did he need a gun to go see a movie in the first place? I don't think people should be allowed to carry weapons into movie theaters but that's just me.

 

[Xeno]

Yeah I heard that on the news and of course my blood boiled. Why did he need a gun to go see a movie in the first place? I don't think people should be allowed to carry weapons into movie theaters but that's just me.

A lot of people with concealed carry permits take their guns everywhere they can and are open about enjoying it. There are often boastful fantasies that gun owners would be able to stop crimes in progress with their weapons, but tragic scenarios like this are a far more likely outcome. When tempers get frayed and there is a gun handy things escalate much quicker than when there are no weapons in the equation.

 

[samsnee]

I feel bad for his 3 year old daughter. That is the saddest part of all this.

 

[I SEE SPIDEY]

A lot of people with concealed carry permits take their guns everywhere they can and are open about enjoying it. There are often boastful fantasies that gun owners would be able to stop crimes in progress with their weapons, but tragic scenarios like this are a far more likely outcome. When tempers get frayed and there is a gun handy things escalate much quicker than when there are no weapons in the equation.

Yep. That's the problem with carrying guns everywhere you go. You get angry, shoot first and ask questions later.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

God I hate this. I was watching a Canadian livestream the other day making jokes about it like this and talking about how much they hated America and such. I'm not patriotic, but I don't want to see the country go down the toilet any more than it has though. Apparently we're either fat (which I am, so score one for stereotypes I guess), or stupid. Why? Cause 'Murrica! Just annoying to me, and all this gun violence the media keeps playing up lately certainly isn't helping the cause.

How, pray tell, would less shootings and mass murders see your country go down the toilet any further?

The problem isn't guns. It's Americans (obviously, not all).

So the critique "Murica!" is very much apt.

 

[DJ_KiDDvIcIOUs]

Gotta love Tampa, shootings are always popping off over the bridge from me. Apparently he is going to try and use the stand your ground defense.

When Curtis Reeves Jr. killed a texting moviegoer and wounded a bystander at a theater outside Tampa yesterday with a .380 pistol, it sounded like a clear case of rage. But the 71-year-old retired cop may have been in fear for his life—and he may be able to take advantage of Florida's gun-friendly self-defense law.
Reeves' initial statement certainly indicates he'll claim self-defense, according to an analysis by the Tampa Bay Times' Jessica Vander Velde:

Reeves told Pasco Sheriff's deputies Monday that Oulson stood up and struck him in the face with an unknown object when they were arguing inside a Wesley Chapel movie theater during previews. Reeves said he was "in fear of being attacked," according to an arrest affidavit.
​

But the county police aren't buying it, in part because the "unknown object" was a bag of movie popcorn:

Reeves wanted Oulson to stop texting. He walked out and complained to theater management. When Reeves returned to the 1:20 p.m. showing of Lone Survivor, "words were exchanged" and Oulson threw a bag of popcorn at Reeves, an arrest affidavit states.
Witnesses say the pair did not throw punches. Then Reeves pulled a gun and shot Oulson, who was pronounced dead at the hospital.
​

Under Florida's stand your ground statute—an expansive cover-all advanced by the state's top NRA lobbyist in 2005—anyone can shoot to kill, assuming they reasonably feared for their physical well-being. And the definition of "reasonably" is quite elastic, law professor Charles Rose told Vander Velde:

Many factors could come into play, he said.
For one, when Oulson threw popcorn, that was technically assault under state law. Was it reasonable to respond with deadly force simply because of the popcorn? No, Rose said.
However, if Reeves considered the popcorn throwing to be one step in an escalating response from Oulson — and if the 71-year-old man feared that Oulson would come over the movie theater seats and physically attack him next — and if Reeves felt he wouldn't be able to handle such an attack from a younger man, then jurors might consider deadly force reasonable, the attorney said.
"Here's the problem: We're trying to look into the mind of the defendant and posit what the thought was happening," Rose said.
​

Looking into the mind of an elderly man who comes armed to a matinee showing of "Lone Survivor" shouldn't take long, really. But then again, this is Florida, where George Zimmerman was found not guilty, and where lawmakers are currently considering adding warning shots and the brandishing of weapons to the list of acts that could be protected under the stand your ground law. Until it all shakes out, residents are probably best served by a Redbox. Or kevlar.

Freaking Florida

 

[DarkSovereignty]

Can we just chisel Florida off the land mass and let it float away?

 

[chamber-music]

This law sounds more trouble than its worth. All these self-defense shooters seem to pull the trigger before getting any sort of clarity on the situation.

This Reeves guy didn't see what he was hit with so he pulls out a gun and shots the guy. WTF.