Jury Acquits in Theater Killing Over Cellphone

Chad Oulson was shot to death in argument over cellphone use
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 26, 2022 12:20 PM CST
Retired Police Captain Acquitted in Theater Killing
Nicole Oulson, center, listens to the verdict being read Friday in the shooting death of her husband, Chad Oulson.   (Douglas R. Clifford/Tampa Bay Times via AP, Pool)

A Florida jury has found a retired police SWAT commander not guilty in a fatal shooting in a movie theater in 2014. Curtis Reeves, 79, had been charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery, WTVT reports, but the judge had told jurors they could return lesser guilty verdicts, including manslaughter. Instead, they acquitted after a three-week trial. Nicole Oulson, the wife of Chad Oulson, who was 43 when he was killed, broke down when the verdict was read. She then rushed from the courtroom, per the Tampa Bay Times.

The confrontation took place during a matinee the film Lone Survivor. Reeves, who was sitting behind Oulson, was unhappy that Oulson was scrolling on his cellphone as previews began and told him to put the phone away. The defense argued that Oulson turned, yelled, and reached for Reeves, leading the retiree to reasonably think his life was in danger, per the AP. When Oulson tossed a bag of popcorn at him, the retiree pulled out a pistol and fired. Reeves decided to fire in fear, based on his law enforcement experience and training in the use of reasonable force, his lawyer argued. Prosecutors said Reeves fired in anger.

The former Tampa police captain told investigators he'd never seen a person so out of control and frightening. "In his entire career that is the most he has ever been scared? Absolutely unreal," a prosecutor said. The duration of the case, partly due to appeals over changes in the state's stand your ground law, was an "embarrassment to the criminal justice system," a state attorney said. Former and current law enforcement officers are allowed to carry guns, records show; an off-duty sheriff's deputy who also had a weapon was in the theater and disarmed Reeves. "It was a sad day for everybody on both sides," Reeves said Friday. "It never should have happened. I never wanted it to happen." (More fatal shooting stories.)

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