Man claims self-defense in movie shooting

PHILADELPHIA, Jan. 1 (UPI) -- An Iraq war veteran charged with shooting another man in a Philadelphia movie theater in a fight about talking during a movie claims he acted in self-defense.

James Cialella's lawyer asked that an attempted murder charge against him be dismissed, The Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The judge at Wednesday's preliminary hearing agreed.

"He's a marksman," Greg Pagano said. "If he wanted to shoot to kill, he would have."

Pagano said Cialella was trying to break up a fight between Woffard Lomax Jr. and another man at the Riverview Theater on Christmas night and fired because he was being choked. Lomax was wounded in the arm.

Lomax testified that the man who shot him was the same person who had thrown popcorn at him just before the shooting. Lomax, his girlfriend and her three teenagers were watching "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" when someone told them they were too noisy.

Pagano described Cialella, 29, as an honorably discharged Army sergeant who recently married and is going to school.

Municipal Court Judge Craig Washington cut Cialella's bail to $50,000 from $350,000 but said he must be under house arrest if he is released. Cialella is charged with aggravated assault and reckless endangerment.