I remember when this story came out, it was consistently told as, "Man shoots man who threw popcorn at him."
The media still wants to headline it this way, but it sounds like there was quite a bit more of altercation -- that didn't have a lot of time to develop:
What happened over the next few seconds is where the stories diverge until Oulson grabbed Reeves’ popcorn and flicked it back into Reeves’ face. Reeves pulled his .380 handgun, lunged forward and fired one shot, killing Oulson and nearly severing the finger of Oulson’s wife, Nicole, who had reached out to pull her husband back to his seat.
Escobar said the evidence proves their contention that during the disputed seconds, Oulson, before being shot, threw his cellphone at Reeves, striking him in the face, and then appeared ready to climb over the seats and attack, reaching toward him.
Reeves testified Thursday that in his entire law enforcement career he had never encountered someone so out of control and he feared he was about to be killed. Given his age, arthritis and other physical ailments, Reeves contended he could not have defended himself except by shooting.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...tted-rcna17794
Edited to add: Probably the better avoidance solution here would have been to find another seat, if possible. But Reeve's did contact the manager to complain about the texting before the situation escalated.
Shoot-- I don't know, I don't go to the movies these days anyway...