# Florida Movie Theater Shooting Leaves One Dead In Altercation Over Texting **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 13, 2014, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717 "2014-01-13T22:44:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 16
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/301 "2022-02-26T20:31:22Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Remember kids, always bring a cell-phone to a gun fight, since you’re the aggressor. Remember, kids: don’t be the aggressor. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/302 "2022-02-26T20:31:50Z")
Remember kids, escalating a snarky comment into a fight always ends well. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/303 "2022-02-26T20:45:15Z")
The acquittal is going to encourage more “stand your ground” shootings, which I think is a bad thing; public spaces may turn into the Wild West (though my understanding is that in the _real_ western U.S., people were disarmed on entering town). ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/304 "2022-02-26T20:52:32Z")
That guy scuffed my shoe! He tried to start something! BLAM BLAM BLAM ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/305 "2022-02-26T21:00:51Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > The acquittal is going to encourage more “stand your ground” shootings, which I think is a bad thing; public spaces may turn into the Wild West (though my understanding is that in the _real_ western U.S., people were disarmed on entering town). If you watch the news the major cities in the US are already the wild west. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/306 "2022-02-26T21:03:59Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > That guy scuffed my shoe! He tried to start something! BLAM BLAM BLAM But that’s not what happened. A younger man swung on an old man with a solid object in his hand. He escalated what was at most a rude remark into a fight against a weaker opponent. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/307 "2022-02-26T21:15:35Z")
That guy flipped me off! He’s trying to start something!! BLAM BLAM BLAM ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/308 "2022-02-26T21:17:36Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > That guy flipped me off! He’s trying to start something!! BLAM BLAM BLAM But that’s not what happened. A younger man — wait, this already got covered. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/309 "2022-02-26T21:18:39Z")
I’m 80, but this guy behind me nudged me to get past me. He’s trying to start something! BLAM BLAM BLAM ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/310 "2022-02-26T21:37:48Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > I’m 80, but this guy behind me nudged me to get past me. He’s trying to start something! BLAM BLAM BLAM Honest question: do you really believe there would have been an acquittal in that case? ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/311 "2022-02-26T21:45:50Z")
What a court decides later is immaterial. We’re now talking about people who’ve “earned shootings” and who need to learn the takeaway to be along the lines of “Don’t Start None, Won’t Be None.” ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/312 "2022-02-26T22:12:22Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > What a court decides later is immaterial. > > We’re now talking about people who’ve “earned shootings” and who need to learn the takeaway to be along the lines of “Don’t Start None, Won’t Be None.” And the point is, the guy who got shot this time earned it, and so the shooter was acquitted, and so the takeaway is “Don’t Start None, Won’t Be None”; and, in a case where no shooting was so earned, there’d be no reason for an acquittal to ensue and we could have a somewhat different discussion about the takeaway. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 10:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/313 "2022-02-26T22:23:59Z")
Hey if you want to live in state where you want people to get killed for texting and embarrassing old men, so be it. Just don’t pretend it’s going to teach anybody any lessons other than it’s ok to shoot people who make you mad. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/314 "2022-02-26T22:29:35Z")
> [@Chingon](#): > > Hey if you want to live in state where you want people to get killed for texting and embarrassing old men, so be it. I don’t. Wait, is that why you think this guy got shot? I thought he got shot for something _other_ than texting and embarrassing; I thought he should’ve stopped there, but, y’know, _didn’t_. ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/315 "2022-02-26T23:00:21Z")
Wasn’t the confrontation started by the retired cop who yelled at the person in front of him to put his phone away during the previews? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/316 "2022-02-26T23:09:52Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Wasn’t the confrontation started by the retired cop who yelled at the person in front of him to put his phone away during the previews? As far as I know, that’s permissible: _I’m_ allowed to do that sort of thing, and _you’re_ allowed to do that sort of thing, and that‘s the kind of world I want to live in — one where it’s okay to initiate a _nonviolent_ confrontation, and where it’s okay to nonviolently respond to that likewise. The problem comes when someone impermissibly escalates from nonviolence to violence. ---
**Author:** ![Chingon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chingon/32/17645_2.png) [@Chingon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chingon)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/317 "2022-02-26T23:12:18Z")
And then at that point you kill them (for a very loose definition of violence — which could be looking at you wrong). ---
**Author:** ![Galactus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galactus/32/3581_2.png) [@Galactus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Galactus)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/318 "2022-02-26T23:14:01Z")
Are you saying all the escalation was one sided? Is there proof of that? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/319 "2022-02-26T23:23:38Z")
> [@Galactus](#): > > Are you saying all the escalation was one sided? Is there proof of that? That would seem to involve proving a negative. As far as I know, until the gunshot the escalation from verbal to physical was one-sided — which would neatly explain the shooter’s acquittal, which after all happened for a reason — but, since I’m of course willing to admit that I could be wrong, I’m all ears if someone has evidence that (a) the facts were otherwise, such that (b) it was, uh, two-sided. ---
**Author:** ![Roderick\_Femm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roderick_femm/32/14875_2.png) [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2022, 11:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717/320 "2022-02-26T23:37:01Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Reeves was punished. The aquittal doesn’t change anything. He served the time. He’s almost 80 and can never get those 8 years back. > > His legal fees must have wiped out his life savings. > > Maybe Reeves got what he deserved. He certainly didn’t get off scot-free. So all your sympathy is for the guy who served 8 years of sort-of house arrest, living in his own home, eating the food he wanted to eat, getting up and going to bed when he wanted to, watching TV or reading or doing anything fucking thing he wanted to do except leave his house. As distinct from the guy who has been dead for the past 8 years and will continue to be dead forever, the guy who was unarmed, and who did not respond perfectly to the guy yelling at him in the theater. Yes, he _earned_ being dead because he got a little pissy about being yelled at. You and the others taking this line make me sick. I hope someday, somehow, you learn a little empathy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717.md?page=15) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/florida-movie-theater-shooting-leaves-one-dead-in-altercation-over-texting/678717.md?page=17)