Posted on 01/15/2014 5:09:04 AM PST by Anton.Rutter
Edited on 01/15/2014 6:21:09 AM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]
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."
(Excerpt) Read more at gma.yahoo.com ...
Which is the answer to the anti-gunners comments about who takes a gun to a movie.
I believe the patron who didn't hear the shot was in another theater. There are 16 in this complex, and each is designed to keep sound from being heard next door.
Even if she had heard the shot in the next door theater house, she would have assumed it was part of the movie being shown.
Sadly. I have seen people driving (if you can call it driving) down a dangerous highway with two thumbs on the phone. Just stupid. Most of it is drivel, could have been done verbally hands-free, would have been more efficiently communicated by voice, and will wait anyway.
If you have a newborn, don't give it a pacifier in public. Because one day she'll throw it at a stranger...
Rat? We aren't 12 or part of some gangster culture (if there is a difference) where "ratting" is immoral. Your premise that ignoring bad behavior is the moral high ground is deeply flawed and historically futile. "This could have been easily avoided if either one would have been reasonable".
It is reasonable to ask someone to stop texting in a theater. It is also reasonable to speak to management if they fail to stop. So far the elderly gentleman has done nothing wrong. What happened past that point isn't very clear.
Only a week? Awww!
I disagree. He is arrested and charged because he shot someone and now they are trying to make their case. Evidence doesn’t support their theory any better than my speculation.
Too bad there wasn’t a retired cop with a gun to take out the retired cop with a gun.
Judge decided on no bond.
I speculate you wouldn’t excuse the shooter if he werent an ex-cop.
Having words and throwing a box of popcorn would only make a lunatic feel threatened enough to kill someone. You have sided with the lunatic over and over.
Shirley thou jest.
Or it may be because they turn the sound up so loud it is deafening. Or the manager may have failed to hear shots fired because shots are fired in every movie these days, at top volume. Or it could have been a multiplex, with lots of noise from multiple films at once.
It really doesn't matter. What matters is your thinking that a rude irritation in a movie theater is grounds for justifiable homicide.
I think everyone here gets that texting is rude. Do you get that a little girl is going to grow up without her father because some moron criminally shot him over texting?
“If you are the one who started the argument and things go bad, you forfeit the right of self defence.”
No. It depends on the chain of events from the start to the crime. There can be intervening events that turn it around, making the initial victim, now, the defendant.
One was far, far more wrong than the other. Especially in a near-empty theater, the ex-cop could have moved forward three rows and not been bothered.
I am waiting for more facts to come out before passing final judgement, but nothing I have seen so far comes close to any kind of threshhold where lethal force is justified.
Another question not being asked is why didn’t the off duty cop step in before it got to that point. My father is a retired cop. When he was still on the force he would be let into the movies for free because they’d expect him to handle a situation like this one. He was also expected to carry his gun 24/7
Maybe this whole "innocent before proven guilty" is as passe as the rest of the constitution. Just forget I ever said anything. Pass me a torch and a pitchfork and I will follow the crowd.
Rhinelander got a suspension, one week. He didn’t get a zot.
Seen and noted. Thank you.
His being a former cop has absolutely no bearing on this matter.
I keep seeing declarative posts that the theater was nearly empty. How many seats are actually in the theater?
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