Then the offender should be removed from the theater by the staff. On that same sign it probably stated No Guns Allowed on Premises as well.....

The older gentlemen should have waited to talk to management, rather than not waiting those few minutes for one to become available and instead going back into the theater to confront the texting guy on his own. It appears that the older man came back and decided to take matters into his own hands. By not waiting for management to do something about the problem I believe the ex-cop, rather than the man who was texting during the previews, was the one that escalated this.

Again - someone has died, needlessly, because of a misunderstanding in a movie theater. There is no cause whatsoever here for a weapon to be drawn and someone killed. It is a movie for gosh sakes. The older man could have moved seats or could have waited a few minutes to talk to management about the problem (although, they probably would have told him that texting during the previews while lights are up isn't against policy). I would imagine the man texting during the previews believed he wasn't doing anything wrong. The texting wasn't during the feature film, and I imagine he knew he would be finished in plenty of time before the film started. He merely wanted to check up on his 3-year-old daughter before the film began, in a far less intrusive way then calling the babysitter, he texted her to double check on his little girl. Again, all before the film started. If the older man had merely proceeded to get management involved, or perhaps just waited to see if the texting father was going to continue texting when the feature started, rather than take matters into his own hands I would imagine that the lives of both men, along with their families wouldn't have been altered at all.

my personal response would be to say nothing. I would turn it off but say nothing. if it were important I would go outside.

as I said earlier in this thread, my phone turned itself back on once while in my pocket and rang half way trough a movie. It rang twice before I could get to it. it was an accident but still the guy in front of me turned around and stared me down for a minute... Dude looked like he wanted to brawl right there.

His gesture was even more annoying than my phone ringing. And mine was an accident.

Ha, I was wondering if he was there seeing a rerun of Anger Management or if it was a Charles Bronson movie?

My response would be the same as to the question below:

"If a theatre has a sign posted on every door to every screen saying to turn in your hand gun before entering and there will be no refunds or passes if you use it in the theatre and someone reports you".

What's your response to that (sign)?

It would depend on the laws of the state regarding CCP. I believe that I read somewhere that in Florida, someone with a CCP can legally carry in a business that has a sign saying NO FIREARMS.

My wife and I tend to get to the theater early because we like to get the best seats we can and we often enjoy the upcoming trailers.

If someone sitting near me is texting I'm going to politely ask them to stop, I am sure as hell not moving my seat. I'm not likely to shoot them but they are also not getting a free pass for their inconsiderate behavior.

If texting his daughter was so important then HE should have gotten off HIS ass and left the theatre.

People not calling each other out for inappropriate behavior is IMHO a big part of the problem with society in general these days.

Texter knew his behavior was inappropriate but made a conscious choice to do it anyway. I see that type of behavior as a big giant **** You.

Not acceptable in my book.

Texter did not deserve to die over it and I'm sure if he thought it would end that way he would have stopped texting, instead he gave the old guy the finger and was the unfortunate recipient of even worse inappropriate behavior than his own.

I believe you are correct - it may be against the businesses' policy to carry a concealed weapon, but there are only a few places in Florida where it is against the law to carry (schools, sports events, bars, etc). The business is allowed to throw you out if you aren't following their policy (and perhaps press trespassing charges), however you won't be charged with anything by local law enforcement.

He did proceed to get management involved. I agree he should not have shot the texting guy given the information we have now.

Re: waiting to see if the texting would have continued during the movie, he probably figured why should he have to miss part of the movie to go get management at that point, better to try to get it taken care of during the previews.

Remember, "texting guy" had already refused the guy's requests to turn off the phone (more than once, I think)... so he had every reason to believe it would continue.

If we knew exactly what each man said (and their tone), before the ex-cop went to look for management, that would probably go a long way towards showing us how this all happened.

I don't know if you've read this whole thread, but it was posted here that someone came forward and said "texting guy" was known as a hot head.

Again, not defending the shooter here. Both obviously contributed to this insanity and tragedy.

All his friends are now saying he's the nicest guy according to CNN. They're now making sure to leave out that little fact.

I wonder what radio station interviewed his friend who said that...Was it 93.3?

Isn't that applying different standards for each of the polices? There is following the rules of the business, "No phones" and "No guns" and there is the legality of breaking those rules. CCP may or may not be legal depending on the state and I'm pretty sure there aren't any states where is is illegal to text or make a call in a business. The business can ask both offenders to leave the premises for breaking the rules.

^^^^ This. A thousand times this. Especially the first three paragraphs. We try to get there early for the same reasons. We shouldn't have to move.

Hopefully, theatres will begin posting signs about turning the phones off before going in.

Bottom line is they both refused to back down form a stupid situation. They both could have made better, smarter and more polite decisions but they stood their ground. Sadly, they both lose!
In the time it takes to flick a light switch your life can change.
Guilt or innocents will not be decided here for that's the burden of the criminal justice systems.
I hope we all learn from this incident.

I agree completely. Why would anyone consider this acceptable behavior? Why should other patrons have to move because a guy is sitting up front thinking he is too cool to follow the rules and is willing to ruin the experience for everyone? If two fellows want to drag race through my neighborhood...don't tell me that I should just drive somewhere else if I don't like it.

When we are in similar situations as this (and it happens often...asshats are everywhere), my wife will tell me that I should go tell the five bikers, college kids, etc. to knock it off., don't cut the line, etc... I tell her that I will (and would love to), but she must understand that it may well escalate (remember childish school games of "knock it off"..."no, you make me") and I will not back down if threatened...so she should plan on driving home alone as I may either end up in a hospital or jail for the evening. Usually that ends the discussion...but sometimes I just have to make a point and speak to the "offenders". The fact that they put others in situations where they have to make difficult decisions like this make them all the more asshats.

Of course they can ask either to leave... I know that. Read what foxy posted in #229.

I find this extremely disturbing. 'Not likely' means that there is some scenario that it could be likely. Why would, in any case, you shoot someone for texting in a movie theater, even if it escalated to the extent it did in this case - popcorn throwing and yelling. Again, it is a stupid movie, this isn't life and death. Texting and then popcorn throwing and screaming at each other should never, ever end in death. Even if the texting guy was purposefully texting right in front of your face and being incredibly annoying and telling you that you are a washed up old man, you don't pull your weapon. Bad manners and annoying behavior are not and should never be a death sentence.

Under no circumstances does a weapon get drawn in cases like this. There isn't a 'not likely' scene that ever gets played out, it has to be 'no way am I going to shoot anyone for annoying behavior or bad manners.' You are the gun owner, you have an immense responsibility to do everything possible to avoid shooting someone. Walk away, get the authorities involved, changed seats. You diffuse the situation, in any way possible.

Again, I find it very hard to believe that there are so many here that seem to be stating, in one form or another, that the older man may have had even the slightest justification for killing someone in this case. It really amazes me.

OMG I want to test you.

We aren't talking about LAWS unless there is a law against texting in a movie theater.

You brought up POLICY posted by a theater and somehow assigned relevance to the policy of texting.

I am not surprised that you dodged the POLICY posted by the same theater about guns.

I'll let SM speak for himself, but I think you are reading way too much into his "not likely."

You ignore his last sentence: "Texter did not deserve to die over it and I'm sure if he thought it would end that way he would have stopped texting, instead he gave the old guy the finger and was the unfortunate recipient of even worse inappropriate behavior than his own."

The difference between a no guns sign and a no cell phone use sign is that no one will know you have a gun if you keep it concealed and they won't be bothered by it. Using a cell phone did bother someone in this case. Besides, I'm pretty sure a retired cop can carry just about anywhere he wants and doesn't need a permit to do so. Rest assured, if another James Holmes appeared at this movie theatre, people would be praying for a good guy with a gun.