Prosecutors: This wasn't the first blow-up for Florida theater shooter Curtis Reeves

That's always the case. The media is shaking this story like a dog with a stick.

The dead guy threw popcorn into the 71 year old fella's face. Who knows what it might have been. Acid? When someone tosses an unknown object into my face, I'm gonna react. Would I shoot someone? Probably not, but it's not up to the shooter to hang around long enough to determine what the substance is.

 

That's just it ... no one knows what was going on inside his brain, whether it was drugs, disease or ? And when I say drugs, i don't mean street drugs, but some prescribed meds can have a dangerous effect on the person.....

A couple of summers ago I went out early int he am and a neighbor gal saw me, threw open her window and shouted for me to help her. This friend had Parkinson's. I ran over and she grabbed me just hysterical and crying that she had been up all night long trying to think of ways to kill herself. She couldn't shake the tho't of wanting to die & kept thinking of different ways to do it. Her brain refused to shut down and sleep - it just kept thinking of dying.... it turned out that it was the new meds her neurologist gave her.

Who knows what was going on w/Reeves, but sounds like something snapped in him that no one saw coming.....

I wonder - didn't his wife see him do/say things that was out of character for him?

 

There are some things we may never know. This guy seemed to have a normal productive life, and then it went south, and sadly someone died

 

In Tx there is a 10 hour class requirement, each state is different.

 

In my state you do and I thought it was almost worthless but I've been shooting guns since I was 5. I'm sure people not familiar with guns get more out of it than a wasted Saturday.

 

Agreed, the second a person decide to carry they need to be the bigger man or woman and do everything to prevent a situation from escalating. After all someone cutting you off in traffic or texting in a movie theater is not worth taking someone's life. I hope they throw the book at the guy because he gives the rest of us a bad name.

 

Clearly the answer is more guns.

 

Darn, I got it wrong! I thought the answer was more cops.

 

The shooter needs to go to jail but is seems to be a case of two hot heads getting into an argument with a 40 year old man fighting with a 70 year old. Pair of butt holes if you ask me.

40 year old didn't deserve to be shot and die as the old man should have filed an assault charge against him.

 

thing is, mgmt at theaters are too afraid often to say things out of fear of being sued by the banshee who brings her yelping hooved children along

 

Assault? You mean flying popcorn?

 

Yes I do... It is/was an assault. Old fart could have gone back out to the lobby and had Mgmt call the Police after the popcorn was thrown at him. Middle aged fart could have shown some courtesy and gone out to the lobby to text. But NO, both jackasses had to be jackasses so now one jackass is in jail and the other jackass is dead.

 

Varies by state. Here in FL, you are required to take a course that familiarizes you with the laws about where you can and cannot carry (for example, you cannot carry in most, if not all, government buildings and facilities). The instructor in mine also when over various scenarios and spoke about when it is and is not appropriate to use lethal force. You must also demonstrate competency with a weapon, but sadly, that consists of firing a single round, loaded by the instructor, without managing to kill yourself or someone else.

My personal opinion is that the classroom training is sufficient, but there needs to be more actual practical firearm use training required.

However, none of that is really germane to this case, as he almost certainly did NOT have a Florida CCW, because as a retired LEO, he can legally carry without one.

My personal opinion about this case, given the fact that he spent most of his adult life carrying a firearm, and dealing with belligerent (*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)(*)s without ever having felt the need to shoot one before, many of whom probably did things much more egregious than throwing popcorn in his face is that he was suffering from age induced mental incapacity of some kind. Whether or not he, or anyone else, recognized it before this event I have no idea, but if I'm right, that, of itself, means his legal right to carry a firearm no longer existed.

 

The shooter was obviously not all there.... for some reason he went off the deep end. NO, I'm not making excuses for him, I'm, simply saying that normal, rational, sane people does not shoot someone b/c they're texting in a theater.

 

People cut you off in traffic... take your parking place.. Sometimes cell phones go off in church or in a movie theater.. because the owner forgot.. Sometimes you are stuck at the check out with three items behind someone with a huge cart of groceries.

Who freaks out????

 

In my opinion the state should put an end this sad old man's life and give his estate to the children of the man he murdered in cold blood. Hang his ass in the public square. If we put more of these psychos to death and made sure their estates went to the families of the victims maybe we would have so many.

 

You need to take a course in Psychology 101. There are people out there who are not wired very tightly or very differently from us, which the majority of us realize. There are schizophrenics, bipolars, autistics, alzheimers, agoraphobics, panic/anxiety attacks, dementia, etc etc etc. There are even sociopaths/psychopaths among us. Why don't you know about mental diseases? Some people have a 'short fuse' which they can't control, but many can w/therapy.........

Do you really think a person who's normal, rationale, same would suddenly freak out and shoot someone who's texting?

And btw, anyone w/3 items who chooses to get behind someone w/a loaded grocery cart instead of using the express lane, which all stores have isn't very bright......

 

And sometimes stores don't have a checker in every aisle.... I went to the store this AM early.. They had ONE checker for seven aisles.

I know there is mental illness out there... and not all of those people are violent or eager to shoot someone over a minor offence.

 

God Almighty.... why am I trying?

Well, you're absolutely right, Margot..... not "all" of these people who live w/a mental disease will suddenly flip out over some minor thing. They are usually medicated, but it has to be diagnosed first and many are not.......

Considering the man's age, it could be dementia. Who knows? Only a doctor would know.... all I know is that a sane, rationale person wouldn't shoot someone b/c of some minor thing like texting. That doesn't happen.

If you're going to let your stores check out lanes become a problem for you, go to management and suggest to have one express lane open at all times..... I know it can be annoying, but then life's a (*)(*)(*)(*)(*) at times.

 

Exactly....everyone involved is a loser.

How the legal thing will go is yet to be determined.....just depends on what luck the cop's lawyers have with a jury........the defendant has several things in his favor....he is a senior, he is a retired cop, he was being taunted and perhaps assaulted by a much younger man.....but was he in fear of his life?....can his lawyers convince the jury that a reasonable man in such a situation could be in fear of his life?....very possible...one punch sometimes kills much younger people....a fellow his age could be killed very easily by a younger man with a punch of even medium power....the retired cop could not be doubted too much if he claimed he was in fear of his life....perhaps the younger man just threw popcorn or perhaps there was more ...perhaps he did punch the older man....all the details are not in yet....and there is always the option of claiming temporary insanity provoked by the threats and taunts of the younger man....how much stuff like that is a senior supposed to endure without losing perspective and or rationality...even a younger man could be provoked to extreme anger and inappropriate action in such a scenario.

I think the most the older man might be convicted of will be manslaughter....I doubt he will serve more than year or two even if his lawyers fail to get him exonerated. I think most juries would be very sympathetic to him even though the media is ganging up on him now....the actual trial will be much different...I think the older man has a excellent chance of beating this.

The lesson that our society needs to learn from this is that there are too many rude people out there who lack consideration of others. I think the younger man paid a terrible price for his rudeness but I have little sympathy for him...what he did deserve was a good beat down...but no one was there to administer it...tragically for his family...the younger fellow and his wife chose the wrong fellow to insult and be rude to ...bottom line...when dealing with a stranger ...'beware'...especially in Florida and other states where it is legal to carry a concealed weapon...that timid and harmless looking senior just might blow your ass away if provoked. Deal wid it chumps.

 

When were Tea and Skittles ever claimed to be lethal weapons?

 

Well.... you're right. If you're going to duke it out w/a stranger over texting or some trivial thing.... you might want to rethink it b/c you just don't know if you're dealing w/a psychotic or whatever mental problem he may have......

 

Texting the babysitter is hardly a threat to anyone... and let's not forget the ex-cop followed another patron to the ladies room for texting 3 weeks earlier.

 

Its him trolling and trying to deflect this thread to another who you know thread....

 

Margo, I'm not really responding to you, just had to pick something to respond to and you won the lottery. Though I agree with you.

Here's my take. First a little background. I live near the theater where this happened. I'm not sure if I've ever been there but it's possible. I have friends, however, who frequent it on a regular basis. I did not know either the shooter nor the victim, but another friend of mine knew the victim. I am a gun owner, a supporter of gun rights, have a permit to carry a concealed weapon, and do so on a regular basis. I have never drawn, much less used my weapon (except in training), and in my entire life, there are only 2 circumstances where I even MIGHT have drawn, but in both cases not only was I not armed, but when the situations resolved themselves, I would not have even if I were.

Bottom line: I'm what gun grabbers would refer to as a "gun nut".

Based purely on the information I have at this point, not only do I think the shooter in this case was wrong, I think he should spend the rest of his life in prison. The facts of the case, as known to me, do not even justify him even having drawn his weapon, much less using it. From the stories that are coming out about previous encounters with others, and other unconfirmed information I've had shared with me, it seems like he was an explosion just waiting to happen.

Now, based on his past history, having spent most of his adult life in situations where he was armed, and dealing with belligerent scumbags who probably did much worse things than text and then throw popcorn in his face, I have to conclude that his mental condition has been deteriorating for quite some time, though I don't have enough info to speculate if it was rapid or slow.

Bottom line, from a "gun nut" who has NO PROBLEM carrying a firearm into a theater, barring the possibility that there's additional information that we haven't heard that would be mitigating, he should be convicted of Murder-2, and spend the rest of his life in prison.