DADE CITY, Fla., Feb. 6 (UPI) -- The wife of a retired Florida police officer accused of fatally shooting a man at a movie theater claimed he had "no cause" to fire his weapon, a witness says.
The testimony by a sheriff's deputy came on the first day of a bond hearing for Curtis Reeves, 71, who is charged in the shooting of Chad Oulson, 43, the Tampa Bay Times reported Wednesday.
"I'll teach you to throw popcorn at me," Alan Hamilton told a Dade City courtroom he heard Reeves say just before a shot was fired that struck Oulson.
Hamilton, a Sumter County deputy, was off duty at the time of the Jan. 13 shooting at a theater in Wesley Chapel.
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The deputy said he found Reeves sitting in a chair with a .380-caliber semiautomatic pistol on his knee. Hamilton took the weapon and told Reeves, a retired Tampa police captain, to stay put.
Hamilton said Reeves' wife, Vivian, said "that was no cause to shoot anyone."
Reeves responded by sticking his finger at his wife and telling her, "you shut your f------ mouth and don't say another word," Hamilton said.
Police allege Reeves shot Oulson after Oulson threw popcorn at him during an argument over him texting his 3-year-old daughter during previews of "Lone Survivor."
Hamilton said there was a gap of only three to five seconds between Oulson throwing popcorn and the firing of shots.
Oulson said "I can't believe this," testified Derek Friedhoff, a nurse who rushed to the aisle where the victim lay.
Testimony was expected to continue Friday with the showing of a surveillance video from the theater.
Attorneys for Reeves, who is charged with second-degree murder and aggravated battery with a firearm, want him released on bail.
Prosecutors contend he should remain in jail.
