Killing of Chad Oulson
2014 incident in Wesley Chapel, Florida
On 13 January 2014, retired American Special Weapons and Tactics commander Curtis J. Reeves Jr. shot and killed retired American Gulf War veteran Chad Oulson in the Grove 16 Theaters, a then-Cobb Theatres movie theater in Wesley Chapel, Florida, United States. The shooting occurred during pre-show movie trailers after intermission following a brief altercation between the two men. Reeves asked Oulson to turn off his cell phone and Oulson threw popcorn at Reeves.
In 2017, Reeves's legal team attempted to use Florida's stand-your-ground law as the basis of his defense, which was initially rejected by the court. In 2022, Reeves was acquitted of second-degree murder and aggravated battery.
Death
On 13 January 2014, Oulson and his wife Nicole were preparing to watch the movie Lone Survivor; retired law enforcement officer Curtis Reeves and his wife were watching from the row behind the Oulsons. Chad Oulson used his cell phone during the trailers; Reeves told Oulson to turn off his cellphone and to not use it in the theater. Reeves then exited the theater to complain to theater personnel, then returned to his seat. Chad Oulson threw popcorn at Reeves, who drew a .380 caliber handgun and fired, shooting Nicole Oulson in the finger and fatally wounding Chad Oulson who died later the same day.
The public source identifies “Killing of Chad Oulson” as 2014 incident in Wesley Chapel, Florida. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Killing, Chad and Oulson.
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This entry incorporates text from “Killing of Chad Oulson” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.