One man is dead and a woman has been hospitalized after allegedly being shot by a retired Tampa Bay police captain in a Tampa Bay-area movie theater.
The retired Tampa Bay police officer, his wife and the couple were attending an afternoon showing of the military film "Lone Survivor" when the retired Tampa police captain, Curtis Reeves Jr., allegedly became upset over the male, identified as Chad Oulson, 43, sitting near him and texting during the movie. The two reportedly engaged in a heated verbal exchange, during which Reeves reportedly pulled a .380-caliber pistol and shot the man.
The woman, Oulson's wife, Nicole, 33, tried to protect her husband with her hand and suffered a gunshot wound. Reeves reportedly sat back down and placed his semi-automatic pistol on his lap and was detained by an off-duty police officer.
Reeves once was the "go-to guy" for responding to some of the toughest calls to the Tampa Bay police department during the 1980s, according to the Tampa Bay Times. He was instrumental in creating the police department's Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team and was considered to be the best man to handle especially tense situations, such as civil disturbances, hostage events and standoffs between police and armed suspects.
"In my opinion, he was the best of the best," Tampa Bay police officer Carson Helms, 59, told the Tampa Bay Times.
Reeves, 71, allegedly shot the couple at the Cobb Grove 16 movie theater complex Monday during the 1:30 p.m. showing of "Lone Survivor." The male victim died from his wounds while the woman was taken to the hospital for the gunshot wound to her hand.
Reeves retired as a police captain in 1993 and eventually became director of security for Busch Gardens until retiring in 2005. His son, Matthew Reeves, has been a Tampa Bay police officer since 2003.
Off-duty nurses tended to the wounded victims after the Tampa Bay shooting but could not prevent Oulson from dying.
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