Retired policeman shoots father dead over texting and popcorn row in Florida cinema

A retired policeman in his 70s allegedly had a heated argument between a couple and shot a father dead at the cinema.

13:20 14 January 2014

71-year-old Curtis Reeves has been charged with second-degree murder after he allegedly shot a man dead and wounded his wife after a heated argument involving mobile phone texting and popcorn reached boiling point.

The incident took place in front of a shocked cinema-goers watching Mark Walhberg-starring action flick Lone Survivor in Florida on Monday.

A witness, Charles Cummings, narrated: ‘Somebody throws popcorn. I’m not sure who threw the popcorn. And then bang, he was shot.

‘I can’t believe people would bring a pistol, a gun, to a movie. I can’t believe they would argue and fight and shoot one another over popcorn. Over a cell phone.’

In a press conference, Sheriff Chris Nocco said: ‘The victim was on his cell phone, he was texting. We believe he was making some kind of noise. This noise led to an altercation.’

‘During that altercation, the suspect decided to pull out a .380 and he shoots the victim. The suspect, also sat with another person, opened fire in the couple sat in the row in front of him.

‘It’s absolutely crazy it would rise to this level over somebody just texting in a movie theatre.’