Video of the shooting inside a Florida theater plays at the bond hearing for the retired cop charged in the case that appears will be involving a self-defense strategy.
According to the video’s time stamp, a theater surveillance video from the Grove 16 theater in Wesley Chapel, Florida, shows defendant Curtis Reeves return to his seat at 1:26:19 p.m. Six seconds later, Reeves appears to lean forward but only for a second.
Next, a hand pushes forward in front of Reeves, who is still sitting. The hand comes from the seat where victim Chad Oulson was reportedly sitting. It appears that something is snatched from the lap of Curtis Reeves — likely popcorn that the defense has repeatedly said Oulson threw popcorn. Next the object or popcorn is thrown toward Reeves.
Next at 1:26:37 p.m. Reeves’ right hand is visible — the hand that Reeves told police he used to shoot Oulson.
The video also shows a man arrived and apparently secure the weapon.
During a police interview, Reeves told police he had “reason to believe (Oulson) was going to kick my ass” after Reeves confronted the Oulson over his texting during the previews to “Lone Survivor.”
Reeves and his wife both told police that Chad Oulson began using foul language, and Reeves left to talk to a theater manager. When he returned, Oulson stood up and turned around to confront Reeves, he said.
“I see that he’s very explosive, unnecessarily,” Curtis Reeves told police. “It scared the crap out of me.” Reeves — a retired Tampa police captain — said if he had been 20 years younger, he and Oulson would have “wrestled it out,” but at 71, “I couldn’t take anybody, not anymore.”
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