Retired Cop Kills Man for texting

[Thanato]

Pasco County Sheriff's officials say Reeves initially asked Oulson to stop texting at the theatre in Wesley Chapel, a suburb about a half-hour north of downtown Tampa. Sheriff's Detective Allen Proctor wrote that Reeves spoke to Oulson during the movie previews, then got up from his seat and informed management.

When Reeves returned to his seat "additional words were exchanged" and Oulson threw a bag of popcorn at Reeves, the report said.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...eadly-1.2495418

Seriously?

[green_dude777]

[/size]

Seriously?

Yeah, and this is one of the people I'm supposed to allow to carry firearms while I cede my right to carry

[SHaYap]

Yeah ... seriously ... how many who have been in cinemas have wished they had a gun in situations such as these when encountering idiots that ignores the polite reminders to switch off phones to not disturb the other cinema goers ?

I remember there was a time when phones were asked to be surrendered before entering and viewing ... maybe we should have that back ... and yeah, guns too ....

~

[Awake2Chaos]

What will be interesting to see is what charges are brought against him, and how he's punished for this.

[EllJay]

I read; Retarded Cop Kills Man for texting.

After reading the article I see that I wasn't that wrong to begin with.

[green_dude777]

What will be interesting to see is what charges are brought against him, and how he's punished for this.

2nd degree murder so far..... considering he's an ex police captain from the area, probably not much for punishment. That might just be a cynical view towards the U.S. justice system, but lately they keep giving me reasons to be cynical.

[spartan max2]

Maybe now people will stop texting in the dam cinema

[Xynoplas]

A gun is no good unless you're ready to kill with it.

Killing a person is a heavy burden, and unless you are prepared to bear it, you've got to exhaust all other means.

[Awake2Chaos]

2nd degree murder so far..... considering he's an ex police captain from the area, probably not much for punishment. That might just be a cynical view towards the U.S. justice system, but lately they keep giving me reasons to be cynical.

You are totally justified in being cynical. Our justice system is hit or miss, at best.

[aztek]

i read article about it earlier., what stunned me the most, that his buddies cops were telling judge what a nice person he is, and how he is not in any way danger to society, absolutely ignoring that he just killed a guy in a movie theater , good thing judge didn't buy this crap.

[+and-then]

You'd think a cop would have better self control. I think he should spend the rest of his life in jail IF it went down the way they say it did.

[Michelle]

Lots of people can snap at any given time. Sometimes it is the most optimistic, friendly people you would ever hope to know who go off the deep end. They hold everything in for so long they eventually explode. I advocate venting on a regular basis.

i read article about it earlier., what stunned me the most, that his buddies cops were telling judge what a nice person he is, and how he is not in any way danger to society, absolutely ignoring that he just killed a guy in a movie theater , good thing judge didn't buy this crap.

[Sundew]

i read article about it earlier., what stunned me the most, that his buddies cops were telling judge what a nice person he is, and how he is not in any way danger to society, absolutely ignoring that he just killed a guy in a movie theater , good thing judge didn't buy this crap.

Sadly it isn't too surprising, many a neighbor or co-worker of a deranged murderer often says something like this: "He was a quiet man....." or "He seemed so nice, I always saw him walking his little poochie every afternoon," "He liked to keep to himself," etcetera. Very few people that commit these types of crimes are bouncing off the walls like "Sonny" the "Coo Coo for Coco Puffs" bird.

[Clarakore]

Balance between the two is that they both could have used better wisdom.

Who is the greater loser? From an evolutionary perspective we have an older man who probably already has grown children or had the opportunity to reproduce and most likely now has limited capacity to reproduce or if not quality issues. Then we have a younger man who still has more chances to reproduce and at least a toddler to raise.

The old man should have retreated further before shooting and only doing so if the aggressor chose to follow and continue intimidation or initiate an attack. Now he has risked the golden years with his wife, leaving her more alone, and possibly his own freedom. Although Florida has pretty lax laws on firearms giving more power to self-defense claims a la Zimmerman. Most foolish was that this did not even happen during the actual movie but in the previews.

On the other hand the younger man has left a wife alone and child without a father for now. All because he chose to text in a theater while not caring about others also in the theater, because he decided to ignore the older man asking him to stop, because he then verbally confronted an elderly man, and finally further to throw popcorn at him that others will suffer and his further chances to reproduce have been eliminated. From an evolutionary perspective the younger man is the bigger loser.

[seaturtlehorsesnake]

it's just that... there's absolutely no reason to shoot someone for texting. even if the man did throw something at him, there was absolutely no reason to shoot him. i don't understand this at all. i'm done with this.

[Clarakore]

Of course there is no reason. The situation escalated beyond just texting.

There is no reason to intimidate the elderly either. Or to get shot over it...

Just to keep perspective we have to focus on both parties. Not just see gun and go omg and be blind to the mitigating circumstances.

[Clarakore]

If people still respected their elders, even cranky ones, this would have not happened.

[toast]

Sadly it isn't too surprising, many a neighbor or co-worker of a deranged murderer often says something like this: "He was a quiet man....." or "He seemed so nice, I always saw him walking his little poochie every afternoon," "He liked to keep to himself," etcetera. Very few people that commit these types of crimes are bouncing off the walls like "Sonny" the "Coo Coo for Coco Puffs" bird.

This can be observed very often in similar cases. I`m living just lousy 20km away from the place were Mohammed Ata lived here in Germany. After the 9/11 attacks, German local TV stations have interviewed neighbors of Mohammed Ata and asked about this social behavior within the house community, answers: “we cannot understand that, he was always very friendly”; “he cleaned the staircase frequently”; “he looked always very kempt”; “there was never loud music in his flat” and so on.

So, the after the act asked question about the social behavior of offenders seems to be quite useless. On the other hand, experienced conspicuous behavior at a high degree isn´t a guarantor that action will be taken to prevent the society from endangering. An example is the Columbine High School massacre. One of the offenders announced on his website murder attacks against classmates but it wasn´t investigated further in this case, resulting in the well-known sad truth.

Edited January 15, 2014 by toast

[Stellar]

If people still respected their elders, even cranky ones, this would have not happened.

Really? You're going to lessen what this slimeball did with that statement?

The only consideration that should be given to what the young man did should be restricted to whether it was life threatening or not. If it wasn't, then it is completely irrelevant and murdering him was not justified to any degree!

[Lilly]

From what I know about the criteria of using deadly force in law enforcement, the retired cop is in very big trouble. Officers simply don't kill someone because a scuffle takes place. If the texter had pulled a knife or a gun then it would have been different.

[Sundew]

Really less of a gun issue than a mental health issue. Someone this angry, weapons trained and ready to snap could have just as easily pulled a knife out and stabbed the man fatally. The scary thing is, this was once a police officer, you know, "Protect and serve." Would like to see his disciplinary history while he was a cop.

[aztek]

If people still respected their elders, even cranky ones, this would have not happened.

don't care howold he is, age is not an excuse to be an a hole. seems like you making the killer look like a victim here.

[Mr.United_Nations]

Apparently the guy threw popcorn at the cop, and the cop's neighbors say he was that he was a bit jumpy

[Awake2Chaos]

From one article I read, he was texting the baby sitter during the preview portion of the film to check on his 3 year old daughter (just like the tag suggests). The old man took offense, and started the confrontation with him. He was being a jerk, so he tossed his popcorn at him.

Not something you shoot someone over.

People like this retired cop make respectable gun owners come off as trigger-happy shmucks. The impression I get is that the cop was looking for an excuse to shoot someone, so he created it.

Edited January 15, 2014 by Awake2Chaos

[HollyDolly]

Listen I've been to the movies and seen people on their phone while their kid watches some animated movie like Frozen or whatever. I feel like going over and just ripping their phone out of their hands and smashing it. That's just being discourteous to the rest of us regardless of the movie.

All the guy had to do was go and get up and go towards the entrance to the theatre they were sitting in and go text or go out the door text and then come back in.The old man over reacted and should have gotten up and gotten the manager or a cinema employee and made a complaint not shoot the guy. What a waste of two lives and such pain for both families because of stupidity on both parts.