Retired Policeman shoots and kills a man at a movie theater in Florida over texting / noise

ABC Affiliate source

Very sad situation, I am not sure what to say in regards to this terrible incident, you just never know when you can be cheated out of your life over something as petty as this.
What do you think about this tragedy ATS ? I think we are going to see a tipping point now on gun rights.
Sto ry from local ABC affiliate

reply to post by phinubian


This has less to do with gun rights and more to do with police officers used to getting away with doing whatever they like.

it would seem retirement was not not enough to quench this persons need for blood-lust and authority....sad story and an awful shame for mum and daughter.......

phinubian

I think we are going to see a tipping point now on gun rights.

...and on the other side of the country a guy was refused entry to a "gentleman's club" returns with a mask and gun and shoots 3 people, he in return was shot by a patron and somewhere in the middle of the country someone shoots someone and then themself and then there's that wedding party in Yemen where the guy shoots a bunch of guests with his AK while dancing to Gangnam song....so no, these stories aren't tipping points one way or the other and really is a people problem not a platform for the gun rights debate.

Since I just recently had to deal with an annoying person seated close by watching a movie, I almost want to say "good riddance"… But yeah, seems like overkill. Mostly on the killing part.

Jeezus, the shooter is a retired police CAPTAIN.

Are they putting steroids in the water there, or what?

I haven't gone to a movie theater in years because of the annoyances, not to mention the cost, but after that Colorado shooting, I'm starting to wonder if someone is trying to just shut down public events like this of all kinds. It's like random acts of terrorism, all coming local on local. We've gotten to the point where we don't need outsiders to threaten us, we do a great job all by ourselves.

And they say people in Law Enforcement don't have control & anger issues. Riiiiiight.

All these events are doing is highlighting in neon that our LEO employment culture has very serious flaws. From the cops who manhandle needlessly to the cops who get away with strip-searching for kicks, to the ones who rape, to the ones who kill innocents, we have a problem. Let me repeat.

We. Have. A. Problem. I think it starts in training, and did a long time ago. I also fully believe the mental health standards are way too low, too many awful people slipped into LEO positions when they should have been given the boot. A hair-trigger temper has no place in any police force, yet they are there. Like a plant blight, this kind of culture/mentality/etc was left unchecked & it's practically considered common & normal for these folks to overreact or exert control, intimidate, etc. We're surprised when it comes back & bites us in the rear like this?

reply to post by boncho

But yeah, seems like overkill. Mostly on the killing part.

(laugh) ...Ya think?

I really hate the texters and cell phoners and peanut gallery spoilers as much as the next guy. Who doesn't? It seems equally effective to just rent the movie when it hits Redbox though. It's a whole lot cheaper too....and doesn't include 25-Life to recall the plot for entertainment.

Some people... Wow... Sounds like the proverbial mean old man or something.

reply to post by LadySkadi


What you say is true and we both know this, however, the truth of the matter remains, the anti gun lobby needs a badge of honor, if you will, to continue to make their case and with the help of the press, they can pick which case will be the tipping point, I feel that in the coming days that we should watch and see what happens and how this plays out...I could be wrong, but for some reason there is a straw somewhere that will break the camel's back.

Then again some were thinking that Sandy Hook might have been that incident to make the dominoes fall.

reply to post by phinubian


...or rather, some wanted Sandy Hook and Aurora to be that straw. I guess, never waste a good tragedy.

Disgusting!

The guy was texting his daughter, and died as a result. Seriously, i expect more of retired Police Officers who once held senior roles...

At least the Officer has been charged with second-degree murder.

www.abcactionnews.com...

news.sky.com...

Wow, that's a little over the top. Back when I used to waste time going to the theatre to see movies, the worst I ever did to those annoying asses was throw jujubees at them... How could someone with such an obvious hairtrigger temper have climbed to captain?

Seems that he forgot that he didn't have a badge on

reply to post by Wrabbit2000


What is amazing is the person did the "right" thing and yet failed to follow his basic rules of having that firearm in a civil society. What a crappy story to read when drinking....where is my doom or rage porn when I need it.

Who brings a gun inside a movie theatre to begin with...?

3u40r15m
Who brings a gun inside a movie theatre to begin with...?

It isn't that uncommon and for the most part, never gets noticed.


But since we are playing this game:
"who brings a gun to a school anyway...."
"who brings a gun to the workplace...."
"who brings a gun to a knife fight...."
"who brings a gun to a hospital...."
"who brings a gun to their own vehicle...."

But given your spelling of theater, I would figure you to be a Brit (and that isn't a bad thing), but your outlook is going to be completely different than that of the average (average for ATS) American poster. Oh and spot the fun in there?!

Sad as I must say this the ex-cop needs to be jailed remainder of his life

TKDRL
Wow, that's a little over the top. Back when I used to waste time going to the theatre to see movies, the worst I ever did to those annoying asses was throw jujubees at them... How could someone with such an obvious hairtrigger temper have climbed to captain?

Sad thing is he was only texting during the previews........not during the actual movie.
So not even worth throwing jujubees at him let alone a bullet.

reply to post by phinubian


I find this article very hard to read.

The victim was texting his daughter. The last text his daughter would receive from him as it turned out. In a way, this man died because he loved his daughter, and that is the most massive tragedy. The declining state of communities in the Western world has been attributed, not without some cause, to the amount of trouble that a kid can get themselves into, when it is apparent that neither parent loves them worth a damn. That lack of love causes trouble for the law, for the government, and for the society as a whole, and is something that a police officer, even a retired one, ought to understand inherently.

This murderous thug bastard, has just taken great love away from a young girl, traumatised an entire family unit, and has potentially contributed to the down fall of the society that it was previously his sworn duty to protect, and what is worse than all this, is that he did so over such a petty, trivial matter.

There are biological fathers out there, who do not give a good god damn about their children, men who should never have been allowed to procreate in the first place, so dark are their hearts, and these men, justly get dragged through the mud often enough. But the victim in this case was one of the good guys, by all possible accounts. An involved father, well liked by his neighbors, who was out with his wife, for a movie, in the afternoon, living the dream, and then dying in a nightmare.

I wonder if the person who killed him even cares, even understands what he has done, if he has any remorse what so ever for the stupid, selfish actions he undertook that day. If he does, I think his sentence ought to include two hours a day, locked in a room with a projector, showing reels of footage of his victim and his daughter, followed by an image or two of her crying her little heart out at her fathers funeral, just so his guilt twists in his gut like a knife. I hope every vile thing that ever happened to a person in jail, befalls this cretin.

reply to post by TrueBrit


Yeah, that's what hurts me the most about this - his daughter was only 3, the same age as my youngest lad - so she will only have the faintest of memories of her father. And through the previews, who even wants to watch them anyway so why did this stupid, idiotic old fart feel the need to even start an argument, much less shoot a man?

I am actually quite disgusted he was only charged with 2nd degree murder, he should be facing the maximum charge for what is nothing short of a cold-blooded killing. He won't even get a death sentence when this is clearly a blatant out-and-out murder.