The ex-police officer who shot and killed a man inside a Florida theater for texting earlier this week has had at least one other run-in with a theater-texter before.
71-year old Curtis Reeves Jr. is being held without bail due to what officials say is “significant evidence of guilt” after he killed Chad Oulsen during a screening of “Lone Survivor”. Witnesses say the two men got into an argument because Oulsen was texting during the movie, and the victim stood up and threw a bag of popcorn at Reeves. Reeves then pulled a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol from his pocket and shot Oulsen in the chest, wounding Oulsen’s wife Nicole, whose hand was on his chest as she tried to break up the fight.
Although Reeves said he felt threatened when the popcorn was thrown–and the possible use of the “stand your ground” law was being thrown around earlier this week–police say that neither man actually threw a punch or threatened one another in any other way physically.
Local woman Jamira Dixon came forward after news of the shooting broke with a story of her own, saying she and her husband were confronted by Reeves in a theater on December 28 after she texted during a movie. She says Reeves glared at her and even followed her outside the theater to the bathroom. Her husband considered speaking to Reeves about it, but decided against it.
“It could have been us,” Dixon said of the shooting.
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