News

Actions

Police: Cell phone argument in movie theater sparks fatal shooting

Posted at 2:13 PM, Jan 13, 2014
and last updated 2014-01-13 16:13:39-05
By Steve Almasy

CNN

(CNN) — One man was shot dead after an argument over a cell phone conversation at a movie theater Monday afternoon in Wesley Chapel, Florida, Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco told CNN.

The victim and a woman who was also shot were sitting in a row in front of another couple.

“There was an altercation because the victim was using his cell phone. He was texting. He was making a lot of noise,” Nocco said. “This led to a verbal altercation, the verbal altercation escalated.”

The suspect pulled out a handgun and shot the man and the woman, who has non-life threatening injuries, with him. The sheriff said it was unclear if the shooter meant to hit the woman.

“There was no indication that they knew each other,” he said of the two couples. He said the shooting occurred during the previews to a movie.

A release from the sheriff’s department said the suspected shooter was at the movie “Lone Survivor” with his wife.

A bystander detained the suspect until deputies arrived, the statement said.

The shooting happened at about 1:30 p.m. inside one of the theaters at the Grove 16 complex, sheriff’s spokeswoman Melanie Snow said.

The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2014 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.