Wesley chapel Grove movies shooting (Spring Hill, Rio: horse, rules, street)

[Spring Hillian]

First of all, no judge should be making decisions as to right or wrong at this point.
Secondly, the Sheriff is a law enforcement officer. He is a in a position to judge what laws should be applied, only the charges. No, texting in a theater is not a crime. Assaulting someone is. The law does not weigh what was used in the assault, only that if it happened or not. It happened.

Originally Posted by NowSoFlorida

Luckily that is not the law and the judge and sheriff disagree with you.

You can not pull out a gun nor shoot someone when hit by an unknown object without repercussions of being arrested and possibly face jail for life for murder.

Had he been hit in the face with a bowling ball and felt severe bodily harm and been able to pull a gun that would be a different situation. But texting in a theater is not a crime, and popcorn is not deadly unless you overindulge.

[Spring Hillian]

Its the THREAT of possible bodily harm that gives the shooter his rights.

Yes, in essence I do believe in my position. Do I advocate anyone killing someone over such a mundane situation? Absolutely not. As to the question was the shooter within his legal rights. Absolutely yes.
Do I agree that shooter did the right thing? No. Would I have done the same thing? No. Was there better was to resolve this minor argument? Yes. Did the victim escalate the situation by launching a verbal and physical attack? Yes.

I hope this clarifies my stand on this.

Originally Posted by vaughanwilliams

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Bodily harm? I know old people are frail but I didn't think popcorn could cause anyone bodily harm.

I'll tell ya Spring, if you honestly, deep in your heart believe this was a justifiable murder, your thinking is not logical-it's pathological. For your sake and the sake of those you interact with, I hope you're arguing the point just to be arguing and don't actually believe some of the stuff you're posting.

[gulfer]

Many really seem to be making this out to be a gun issue or gun carrying issue. I don't know if I agree or not, will have to think about it for some time. Like months.

Retired Cop has no gun, there is no shooting here. The deceased listens to the theater employee and while pissed, lets it go, there is no shooting.

Question: Has the wife spoken on the issue? I haven't seen her side and part of me thinks it is because she saw the wrong from both.

We read and hear about terrible things in our Country each day. A month or two ago the whole news was about teenagers punching out random people. So you can keep your gun at home, but if you are walking and someone tries to do this to you wouldn't you want protection?

This incident is a slice of what has been happening in America. All over the Country KIDS (teenagers) and young adults are getting killed EVERYDAY for similar things. You crossed into my neighborhood, you have on tennis shoes I want, and of course the criminal element. What we see here is the same issue, but done by 'responsible adults'.

I am speculating but the retired Cop seems to have had personal issues. Something triggered that guy to snap and shoot. Was it ego, was it pride, was in anger, or was it self defense. We may actually never know.

I like the road rage issue mentioned above. I stated the exact same thing very early in the thread. But people are not face to face so physical harm doesn't happen. It gives just enough time to cool off or a smart decision to be made so someone doesn't get shot or get out of the car for a fight.

It is the hustle and bustle of daily life, the stress of the times, or maybe just plain old values and physical make up that causes people to snap and do this.

I still maintain though, that while this issues make the news I firmly believe it is less than 5% of society. But with 300 million folks, that still leaves 15 million we have to deal with.

STAY SAFE!!

[Spring Hillian]

I certainly will be among those who contribute to the cause.
Very unfortunate situation. Hopefully this will be a message to all the people who are always at the ready to engage in a physical altercation with a stranger.

Originally Posted by shanti1

Just watching the local news. It showed Chad's co workers and they were talking about how they were organizing a bike ride charity event in Feb to raise money for his wife and child. Something no one thinks about, the financial struggle his wife will have now because of this senseless act. Other local businesses are raising money for them as well. Thank goodness there are good, reasonable compassionate ppl out there to help these victims. I am in tears thinking about the wife and their daughter.

[gulfer]

Originally Posted by D-R-B

Yes....that's correct....

I'm not a big fan of people walking around with guns in public.

But I do understand and respect their right to do so...

Just as they should respect my right to think that it sucks....

I am a military veteran....and I was a small arms marksman with an M-16

And I left that stuff in the military where it belongs in my opinion.

And this situation at the movie theater does a pretty good job of making my point.

I served as well. I don't feel that comparing Our Military Life with living the civilian life is fair.

[BucFan]

ex-military here, too.....lived with an M-16 for a year in Afghanistan (with a magazine loaded w/ rounds at all times), qualified as well w/ 9mm as well for many years.....and was happy to have left those back at the armory, never to be seen again with no desire whatsoever to own a weapon.

I haven't been reading most of the posts here, but I'm surprised that the topic at hand has gone on for 54 pages and have had 500 posts......

topic really touches a nerve with a lot of people.

[D-R-B]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

You are more than welcome to disagree with my opinion. You make it sound like he threw individual pieces of popcorn but so far its known that he threw the container. One could easily assume the next thing to be thrown would be a punch of the introduction of a weapon.

That's your bias and emotions telling you that....

Where did I say or infer anything about "individual pieces of popcorn"...

So what if he threw the container also?....it's made of super thin cardboard or treated paper

Is that life threatening?......NOPE

It probably weighs less than 8 ounces.

"One could easily assume the next thing to be thrown would be a punch or the introduction of a weapon"

If you are the type of person that easily assumes things like that, you should not be able to own a firearm ever.

"A guy honked and waived his hands at me in traffic because I wasn't paying attention to the green light...I easily assumed that his next move was to pull a weapon on me so I shot him dead...I mean, he seemed pretty agitated"

See how ridiculous that is?

[Spring Hillian]

Once again, my opinion is purely speculation based on the information I have which is the same information everyone else has.

With the way society has turned there is no telling what another person may be capable of or willing to do.
Look at the situation a few months ago in NYC. The bunch of "bikers" who surrounded and attacked
a man in his vehicle.

Read these articles and perhaps you will better understand how simple arguments lead to murders. Fear and paranoia? No, real everyday life in our U.S.A.

Jacksonville man attacked, killed after argument about BBQ | jacksonville.com

COLUMBIA, SC: Coroner identifies man shot, killed during argument with ex-girlfriend’s boyfriend | Crime | The State

Milwaukee man, 38, stabbed to death after argument - JSOnline

Man killed during argument at pub, deputies says - Sun Sentinel

Originally Posted by DUNNDFRNT

You didn't, you said this is what happened "point 1,2,3,4 everybody else needs to stop speculating, what's the problem" even when you admit that everyone is speculating, you do a back handed I do logic you guys emotion, I would say you are using emotion, fear and paranoia, I can not get my head around being in a place where someone lunges at me and my first reaction is I have to shoot him otherwise he is going to kill me, ditto with popcorn or even a punch, in my logic that doesn't fit.

[D-R-B]

Originally Posted by Spring Hillian

I certainly will be among those who contribute to the cause.
Very unfortunate situation. Hopefully this will be a message to all the people who are always at the ready to engage in a physical altercation with a stranger.

Please clarify....

Are you saying that "he got what was coming to him"?????

Because he got in an argument with someone and threw a container of popcorn at them???

[Spring Hillian]

Please take a moment to read the links I posted above. It will show you how a small argument can turn into a murder in a heartbeat. The problem is we don't know who we are dealing with in an argument with a stranger. We dont know the intent of the person. In this matter the innocent was the shooter who did not ask to have someone stand in front of him yelling and screaming at him then going further and throwing an object at him. The shooter could not guess whether or not the victim was about to pull a knife, a gun or simply start throwing punches. I dont understand why you cant see the possible thoughts of the person being attacked. When the attack on the shooter happened, texting was not in the equation. It became a matter of self protection.

If you advocate some one beating you to a pulp and not defending yourself, that is fine with me. You don't mind being a victim yourself.

You can't tell the demeanor or intention of a person who escalates a situation. You dont know at what point they will stop or if they will stop.

This is not a matter of being mean, age does have a factor as the shooter would be at a disadvantage in a fight with a 40 something year old. If the shooter continued to shoot other people, like the victims wife others then we have a whole different story and the shooter should face the music on it.

Let's say our shooter pulled out a steak knife from his kitchen and stabbed the victim in the heart. What if he pulled out a sock with a chunk of lead in it and struck the victim in the head causing a hemmorage which lead to death? Just because a gun was used doesn't change much. The man was under attack and he took steps to prevent the potential further violence which could reasonably be expected since it went from a verbal attack to a physical attack.

You say that the victim was "innocent". He was not innocent. He was in the process of committing a crime.

Originally Posted by Seacove

It's a shame you are so obsessed with the right to shoot innocent people that you will overlook the descriptions given by those around as well as another couple that said they had a similar encounter with the alleged murderer.

I'm starting to think if the guy had shot everyone you would say they probably were mean to him because he was old and it was their fault. Your defense of him so beyond keeping an open mind, you sound like you are paid by the NRA.