Chad Oulson with family (Image: Facebook)
A retired Florida police captain, Curtis Reeves, has been acquitted of murder by a jury late Friday after fatally shooting a man inside a movie theater in 2014.
The 79-year-old man was charged with second-degree murder after gunned down 43-year-old Chad Oulson during a matinee screening of Lone Survivor in suburban Pasco County, Florida.
The Reeves took the seats in the back row and the Oulsons one row in front of them, slightly to the right. As the movie previews began, Oulson continued texting his 22-month-old daughter’s daycare despite an announcement to turn off cellphones.
Reeves leaned over and told him to stop. Oulson’s widow and others say it sounded like an order. After Oulson bluntly refused, Reeves went to complain to the manager. When Reeves returned, seeing that Oulson had put his phone away, he told Oulson that he wouldn’t have told the manager if he knew he would comply.
Oulson grabbed Reeve’s popcorn and flicked it back into Reeves’ face. Reeves pulled his .380 handgun, lunged forward and fired one shot, which killed Oulson and nearly severed the finger of Oulson’s wife, Nicole, who had reached out to pull her husband back to his seat.
Reeves testified Thursday that he had never encountered someone so out of control, and he feared he was about to be killed. Given his age, arthritis and other physical ailments, Reeves contended he could not have defended himself except by shooting.
Prosecutor Scott Rosenwaser countered that Reeves killed Oulson because he threw popcorn in his face, angering him and damaging his self-image as an “alpha male.”
Rosenwasser also said that Reeves never fired his gun as he moved through the robbery/homicide bureau, fugitive apprehension and SWAT. Yet somehow this movie theater argument over a cellphone escalated to the point Reeves faced the scariest person he ever met and had to shoot.
“In his entire career, that is the most he has ever been scared? Absolutely unreal,” Rosenwasser said.
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