Posted on 03/16/2017 6:11:27 AM PDT by marktwain
Video of Theater Shooting link
On January 13, 2014, a retired police officer, Curtis Reeves, and his wife were preparing to watch Lone Survivor in a theater in the unincorporated area of Wesley Chapel, part of the Tampa Bay Florida metro complex.
Directly in front of the retired officer and his wife were another couple, Chad Oulson and his wife.
Reeves and Chad got into a dispute after Reeves asked Chad to stop using his cell phone during previews.
The case has been characterized as a retired police officer shooting someone who threw popcorn at him. I was surprised to see the reality when surveillance video of the confrontation was released. The violent confrontation took about 1.3 seconds.
During that period, Chad Oulson snatched the popcorn container from Reeves lap, flung it at his face from about a foot away, rapidly extended his hand toward Reeves face again, and pulls it back, fractions of a second before Reeves shoots. In the video, you can only see Oulson's outstretched arm and hand. The rest of him is outside the surveillance video frame.
Correction: There were two thrusts at Reeves, but the above paragraph has the sequence wrong. The first thrust is to grab the popcorn, the second is to fling the popcorn. The above paragraph states that the grabbing and flinging were in one motion, and then a second motion without the popcorn. That is incorrect. Tip of the hat to Kevin in the comments.
The outstretched Arm of Chad Oulson is under the red arrow. The container of popcorn is just to left, in flight. Head of retired officer Reeves is just to left of cup in flight, barely visible.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Don’t be an a-hole. You’ll eventually meet a bigger one.
Reminds of the LeRoy Brown song:
Well the South Side of Chicago
Is the baddest part of town
And if you go down there
You better just beware
Of a man named Leroy Brown
I don't recall seeing that statement anywhere before.
Can you direct us to a factual reference that Reeves was actually pulling the gun before the popcorn was thrown at him?
.
First, per witness statements, Reeves didn't 'ask' Oulson. He leaned over and 'ordered' him to stop using his cell phone.
Not 5 minutes before this happened, Reeves, himself, was using his own cell phone to text Reeves' son to inform the son where Reeves' and his wife were sitting in the theater. (do as I say, not as I do -- typical cop attitude)
Second, after Reeves left the theater in an attempt to get Oulson to stop using his cell phone, Reeves re-engaged Oulson which escalated the situation.
Legal? Maybe. Proper? I don't think so and neither did the arresting officer, the DA nor the judge who ordered Reeves to stand trial, rejecting Reeves attempt to use Florida's Stand Your Ground as a defense.
Had Oulson been the initiator, a Stand Your Ground defense could have been used. Since Reeves was the initiator and the one who escalated the situation, he was in the wrong and will be standing trial for second-degree murder.
Witness: Wife chided Reeves after theater shooting and he told her to shut her mouth:
Sumter County sheriff's Sgt. Alan Hamilton was there the day Curtis Reeves shot a man to death after a dispute in a movie theater over an illuminated cellphone screen.
Hamilton saw a burst of popcorn and a muzzle blast, he said.
He didn't see everything, he admitted. But he heard things. And some of those things conflict with Reeves' own testimony about what was said in the aftermath of the shooting at the Cobb Grove 16 theaters in 2014.
Hamilton's account also does not support Reeves' testimony in his ongoing "stand your ground" hearing that Chad Oulson, 43, was climbing over the back of his seat when Reeves, 74, fired a gun.
Hamilton testified Wednesday as a prosecution witness. State lawyers are fighting Reeves' effort to avoid a trial on murder and aggravated battery charges by saying he was in fear for his life.
Hamilton said he overheard an exchange between Reeves and his wife, Vivian.
"He pointed his finger at her and told her to shut her mouth and to not say another f- - - - - - word," Hamilton testified.
Reeves' comment, according to Hamilton, had followed an admonition by the wife.
"That was no cause to shoot that man," Hamilton said he heard Vivian Reeves say.
In testimony during the defense portion of the two-week hearing, Reeves' wife had denied the statements attributed to her and her husband.
"I said, 'What happened, you can't shoot into a theater full of people,' or something like that," she recalled.
...
Hamilton, who was off duty when the shooting occurred, had been sitting with his wife in the back row of the theater, the same row as Reeves.
He recalled walking over to Reeves after the shooting and hearing him say, "I can't believe what I've just f- - - - - - done."
Florida Judge Rejects 'Stand Your Ground' Defense in Movie Theater Shooting:
A retired police captain who shot and killed a man in a movie theater will stand trial for second-degree murder after a judge ruled that Florida's "stand your ground" law is not applicable in this case. Following two weeks of pre-trial testimony, Judge Susan Barthle ruled against Curtis Reeves' claims that he used his gun in self-defense when he fired his weapon, CNN reports.
"Because the defendant's testimony was significantly at odds with the physical evidence and other witness testimony, this court has considerable doubts about his credibility, and is not willing to come to the conclusion that these circumstances are those envisioned by the Legislature when the 'stand your ground' law was enacted," Barthle said, according to CNN.
Yep.
The number one rule for us ordinary folks who carry a concealed weapon is to avoid confrontation and to de-escalate situations where we would have to use our firearms.
Obviously retired police captains, such as Reeves, view their CCW as a license to kill.
You know that's assault and battery, right? If the guy is pulling his arm back again should the victim wait to see what happens and hope for the best?
His wife was with him, so he's not just defending himself.
Look at the video, you see the guy who was shot grab the popcorn and throw it at him... as soon as the popcorn is being grabbed you can see Reeves pulling the gun out, extending and firing... he had decided to shoot from the moment the guy grabbed the popcorn...he’s going to jail!
As soon as the popcorn is being grabbed you can see him pull his gun and start to extend... This guys going to jail
You’re obviously new to this.
Reeves initiated this by ordering Olson to stop texting during the previews. There was no asking.
Reeves complained to the manager who told him in effect too bad pal.
Reeves then went to his car and retrieved a pistol. I.e. if the theater manager wasn’t going to stop the texting he would.
Reeves returned to the theater and again ordered Olson to stop texting.
This is the point at which the article begins.
Have you seen Reeves’ arrest photo vs. what he looks like now? IMO a case of testosterone treatments and Roid Rage causing highly aggressive and confrontational behavior resulting in premeditated murder. Reeves deserves nothing less than Murder 1.
Reeves tried to claim immunity under Florida's self-defense immunity law.
Well we well see what the jury says.
Sorry, you are delusional, the man’s going to jail. Someone grabbing your popcorn and flinging it at you does not give you the right to shoot them.
Deadly force can be used to defend yourself from an imminent threat, but this was not imminent threat... it was an idiot with a gun.
Yes we will, and I have every confidence this jackass is going to jail.
He’s already changed his own story to try to spin it, because he knows he’s effed...
I am so sick of every time an idiot with a gun does something stupid and flagrantly illegal a certain group of folks shows up and tries to spin them as the victim. Sorry, this guy is going to jail, and rightly so. I will defend anyone’s right to own a gun, but if you are so trigger happy that you think anyone doing anything ever to, or around you is justification for you to use deadly force, you are an abject idiot.
Nothing different between what this guy did, and when the thug 14 year old in the hood caps someone for disrespecting them... same exact mentality, and same exact stupidity.
This guy’s going to jail, and my bet is better than 50/50 he’ll wind up taking a plea before its all done, because he knows he screwed up, rather than risk getting the maximum penalty from a jury.
Way to debate intelligently.
None of us were there. We have few facts, so all speculation is just that.
I didn’t even know he had gone to his car to retrieve the gun to reinitiate the confrontation, if this is true no doubt murder 1.... It was just blindingly obvious from the moment he decided to pull the gun his intent was to shoot... Minute the popcorn was grabbed from his hand, you see him pull out the gun, extend and shoot...the popcorn hadn’t even left the other guys hand and he was in the process of extending and firing.
This guys going to jail, and rightly so... And those trying to spin him as some sort of hero, or victim, are just truly ignorant.
I will defend anyones right to own and carry, but if you believe anytime anyone does anything to you, in any way, that is legal justification for deadly force... you truly should not own a gun.
one reason I don't think everybody should be allowed to carry.....too many people shoot on instinct and tragedies follow...
lets face it...the retired cop already had his hand on his gun to draw so quickly and shoot to kill....he was itching for a confrontation....as many arrogant self centered people are....
As THE ARTICLE STATED the attack on an elderly man made it “a violent attack” and a potential felony.
I don’t know that 5 minutes before, the previews weren’t being shown. Neither do you.
Dear Mr. Attorney who knows all, No apparently he could not have used the Stand Your Ground defense. Re: the judge.
When it comes to juries I learn never bet on them.
BUT....BUT YOU DON’T UNDERSTAND!!!! The other poster knows all!!!!
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