Retired Police Officer Accused of Killing over Texting

On Monday, authorities in Florida said they had charged a retired police captain with fatally shooting a man following an argument over texting messages on a mobile phone inside a movie theater.

A spokesperson with the Pasco County Sheriff’s office said two couples were watching a movie on Monday in Wesley Chapel, Florida just to the north of Tampa, when gunshots rang out.

Curtis Reeves, who is 71, asked that Chad Oulson, 43, stop texting on his mobile telephone, and an argument ensued.

Oulson and Nichole, his wife, were rushed to a nearby hospital where the man died. Injuries his wife sustained were said to be non-life threatening.

The spokesperson from the sheriff’s department said a deputy who was off-duty detained Reeves while waiting for police to arrive. Police charged Reeves with murder in the second degree.

A spokesperson from the Tampa Police Department said that Reeves had been a captain at his time of retirement from that department back in 1993. Reeves has a son who is currently a police officer in Tampa, said police.

The shooting took place in Wesley Chapel’s Cobb Theatres. The two men argued, said witnesses when Oulson was texting while the previews were being shown prior to the movie, Lone Survivor being played.

Police could not believe that something so tragic would happen just because an individual was texting.

One witness, who was inside the theater, said the shooting victim told the shooter he was texting his daughter who was just 3-years old. The witness said popcorn was thrown and then the shot rang out.

The parent company of Cobb Theatres released a statement that said the company was saddened by the events and that their thoughts as well as prayers were with the two victims and their families.

The theater was closed following the shooting and investigators started their investigation. The theater said that it was a top priority to maintain the security, safety and comfort of moviegoers and the incident has caused them to be heartbroken.

Wesley Chapel is a town of 45,000 located north of Tampa.

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Michael Turner

Remember that strange guy from high-school who never seems to be paying any attention to classes and is completely absorbed by his doodles and sketches? That’s was me 14 years ago. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember - according to my mom, since I was in diapers - and that has never changed - except for the diaper part. For a very long time I thought that animations and graphic design are my calling, but two years ago I got side-tracked and started building an interactive website with a couple of friends. It received instant gratification from fellow internet users, and that’s when I realized that the virtual medium is where I belong. I can freely share my passions with others, work on ingenious new projects and find the most fascinating information about, well, everything. I spend most of my free time writing reviews for crazy gadgets on ArgyllFreePress, I work as an interactive designer for an independent firm and I also received my Fine Arts degree from the University of Oxford.