Retired cop guns down man for texting at Florida movie

You can hope all you want that we don't live in that type of society, but we obviously do. You're talking about the theoretical world, I'm talking about the ACTUAL world. And as much as you and I might not wish it so, there are crazy people out there and many of them may be armed. So, while he didn't deserve to die for his actions, his actions were not very prudent, much less polite or appropriate.

If he'd done the right thing and turned off his phone when asked by another theater goer, none of this would have happened. He messed with the wrong guy and paid for it with his life. The moral of the story: you can't control the nature of other people, but you can control your actions, and it may be in your best interest to try not to piss them off.

 

why don't you get over yourself. You want to invent some hidden meaning in my post I because of your irrational desire to argue a point. I never posted anything was quasi inevitable, you made that up all on your own.

I said that a tad bit of courtesy would have prevented the altercation.

1. I can and have admitted many times in this thread that the old man was wrong and will get jail time for killing the younger man.

2. You are so invested in your own argument that you can't admit the guy on cell phone was being inconsiderate. If once he found out he was disturbing the other patrons had he just said sorry and stopped texting or at least taken it into the lobby their very likely would have been no further interaction betwee the two men. You clearly think that is wrong and the old man went into the theater with the sole intention of killing the young man.

3. Why do you think the 41 year old man stood up and turned around to face the old man? It was done to intimidate. That is mitigating circumstances. It doesn't mean the old man was right to kill the young man but it could be the difference in court between a murder conviction and a man slaughter conviction.

4. And yes throwing popcorn in someones face is an act of aggression regardless and is also mitigating circumstances. It doesn't make it right that the old man pulled out his weapon and killed the young man but once again, it is the difference between murder and manslaughter and if the old man gets a max sentence, minimum sentence or somewhere in between.

5. The is obviously well over 6 feet tall (or his wife is a dwarf) and 30 years younger than this 71 year old man. Regardless if you like it or not that is mitigating cercumstances when there is a physical altercation.

It's sad that the wife lost a husband and the girl lost a father. The old man was wrong...period (as I have always said) but the young man was being disruptive and could have prevented this with just a littel curtesy. I don't see how this is even debatable.

Because the old man was wrong doesn't mean the jack ass young man was right, because he wasn't.

 

great post!

What I find pathetic is all the posters saying some of us are claiming the man deserved to die and I have yet to read a post where anyone claimed that.

 

This is what is so disturbing about this attitude. You and others aren't condoning the shooting but you are basically saying the old guy wasn't really responsible for his actions since the guy started it and that is just a consequence of that behavior. Whether you believe it or not your argument almost amounts to an insanity (or worse justifiable homicide) defense on the part of the old guy.

I agree we shouldn't go around acting like asses but at the same time we should also expect to show enough restraint to not shoot someone just because they act like an ass.

Y'all are acting like this is something that should be expected that you are likely to get shot for acting like an ass. That isn't the case. We don't live in that kind of society.

 

I agree you are not saying the guy deserved to die but the problem with your view is that you continue to draw an equivalency between the actions of the Coulson and the shooter. You and BetterThanI are arguing that it is basically a logical consequence that Coulson's behavior leads to getting shot. That isn't the case. Being an ass doesn't necessarily mean you will or should be shot.

 

All the people feeling sorry for the guy that acted like a dick and was killed for it...I think everyone agrees he shouldn't have been killed, but what kind of consequences would he have deserved?

You tell a guy to stop using his phone, he won't, you tell the theater employees and then the guy confronts you about trying to stop his dickish behavior like you're in the wrong. And throws popcorn at you, maybe when you're with your family? What do you think should be done to him? Nothing?

There seems to be so many people here that are upset that if they're dicks in society that something may happen to them, maybe don't be a dick in the first place?

 

so many ways this situation could have been avoided by all parties.

movie theater should have sent someone to accompany the shooter and diffuse the situation.

shooter is a frigging retired CAPTAIN (and who worked in private security until 2005), who is trained to deal with his adrenaline and not overreact to popcorn being thrown in your face (unless he got punched or shoved or something). Here in NY, if a cop feels threatened, the first thing he is supposed to do is create space (usually by pushing the guy away). If he fears for his life, then you can goto other measures. popcorn in yo face =/= life threatened unless this is a John Woo movie and the popcorn is being thrown in slow motion.

Victim. I understand why you were texting during the previews. I myself have done it when I took my wife to the movies. You get worried about your toddler. I understand. But dude, you really shoulda just put the phone away after the 3rd or 4th time that it was asked of you. and throwing popcorn in a guy's face? What did you think was going to happen? A danceoff?

I feel extremely sorry for the daughter who has no father now, and the wife who had to watch her husband die. Victim was not shot because he was texting. He was shot because he threw popcorn in the guys face, which is just as ridiculous.

 

needs to be merged with the spanking thread

 

Gives me more reason to watch theatrical hits ON DEMAND. Screw the general public, I'm done with movies for awhile. At home is where it's at.

 

Because nobody's perfect. Jesus ******* Christ, I'm one of the most polite people to average people- try to be understanding when Arby's screws up my order for the 13th time, turn the radio up louder when I get cut off in traffic rather than flipping them off- and yes, they didn't use their turn signals AGAIN- etc. But what is scary is that some of you on here think it's more important to focus on "How to Behave So You Don't Get Shot." There is no point in discussing the actions of the victim due to the consequences. Any other consequence and the appropriate discussion is "Mr. Texter got what he deserved- permanent ban from the theater- punched in the face- jeered by the audience- ****ing basically anything except being killed.

But- when there is no threat to the perpetrator's life- there is no justification at all, in any way shape or form, for losing your life over inconsideration. None. Those that feel it's more important to talk about that really have some ****** up priorities. There is no place for that at all when you're talking about a murder.

I really look forward to more details coming out- I will bet 6 figures that the guy never bothered to get the manager- I'm sure he/she would have done something if the murderer was that enraged about.

 

Can I borrow your long coat?

 

Yes- how many times does it have to be said???? Get the manager- and then get the manager again if you have to- it's the friggin previews, for Christ's sake- you're not missing anything- move your seat- go to the theater and ask for your money back- even if the guy started saying **** to him- YOU DON'T SHOOT HIM!!!!!!!!!!!

 

You are the irrational one. How do you even know if "a tad bit of courtesy would have prevented the altercation"? It is completely irrational and crazy to shoot someone over an argument because of texting, and possibly some popcorn having been thrown (at this point, we don't even know for sure who threw the popcorn). You keep acting like "this guy just brought it upon himself".

We have already established that the old guy acted irrationally and completely out of proportion. How do you even know that any courtesy would have prevented anything? You keep claiming that, although you made it up. According to an eyewitness statement, the guy even said "I was just texting my daughter", as in explaining himself. That sounds more like someone being courteous than someone pulling a gun and shooting someone in a movie theater.

What is there to "admit"? To any sane person, based on the facts known, this is completely obvious.

It doesn't matter whether he was inconsiderate. Even if he was inconsiderate, which is very well possible, he didn't deserve to be shot. Your constant attempts to focus on the causality of having texted for getting shot completely overlook the overriding causality of the old guy's completely out-of-proportion decision to shoot someone over a petty argument.

This is all speculation. The fact of the matter is that as far as we know from the one eyewitness that is quoted, there was no violence from the later victim, and no verbal or physical threats were made. The later victim was sitting lower than the alleged murderer and was being talked to from the back, so if he wanted to face the person that was chewing him out and respond to that person (remember, the argument must have been initiated by the later shooter), he had to either turn his head or get up. Whether there was an intent to intimidate or not is pure speculation on your part. According to your logic, people would automatically have "mitigating circumstances" to shoot me just because I am taller than most people. It doesn't work that way.

You clearly have no idea about the law at all. None of what you mentioned would make the difference between murder and manslaughter. Just google the terms and try to understand.

Once again, you are clueless.

Whether you like it or not, nowhere does it say that the victim attacked or threatened the shooter or initiated a physical altercation.

Once again, you are just making this up. For all we know, the old man was completely irrational in the degree of his "response" to the nuisance he perceived. We don't know just how far that lack of rationality and reason went. For all we know, the younger man was actually explaining himself "I was just texting my daughter" while he was getting shot. Your whole idiotic argument of "he could have prevented it if he hadn't texted" or "he could have prevented it if he had just gone outside after being admonished" totally leaves out the fact that the old man was completely irrational and we don't know what the younger man could have or couldn't have prevented.

The only thing we know for sure is that nobody should be shot over an argument over texting in a movie theater.

It's actually quite disturbing that you constantly describe the victim of a murder as a "jack ass", whereas you constantly describe the shooter as "an old man", as if the one who deserves compassion is the murderer, not the victim.

 

For all we know, the phone might have already been off by the time the argument escalated.

 

Hahahhahah, sure if you say so. It's not bulletproof or anything so if anything goes, it's on you.

 

So many posts in this thread make me sad I'm apart of the human race, much less associated with people on this BBS. Unbelievable.

 

Not one person here has justified the shooting. Not one person believes the old man did the right thing. EVERYONE thinks the old man was wrong and deserves jail time.

Our argument is that the victim made a series of bad judgments that escalated the situation and eventually led to his tragic death. Those multiple errors on his part make it hard to feel sympathy for him, even though he ended up worse in this situation.