The retired police captain charged with fatally shooting a man in a Florida movie theater in a dispute over texting exclaimed afterward, "I can't believe what I've done," a witness testified at a bail hearing Wednesday.
Curtis Reeves, 71, repeated the statement after victim Chad Oulson, 43, started making "gurgling sounds" that signaled he was in bad shape, said Alan Hamilton, a Sumter County cop who was off-duty during the Jan. 13 screening of "Lone Survivor" in Wesley Chapel, Fla.
Hamilton said he also saw Reeves blow up at his wife when she criticized him for going for his gun.
"She postured and said, 'That was no cause to shoot anyone,' and he leaned back around and stuck his finger out as to scold her and said, 'You shut your [expletive] mouth and don’t say another word," Hamilton testified.
Hamilton also said that Reeves told him, "I just got hit by something and look at my eye," but he didn't see any visible injuries.
Reeves pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder at the hearing to determine if he could be released on bond. His attorney says he acted in self-defense and is no danger.
The defense meanwhile presented several character witnesses, including Reeve's daughter.
During cross-examination, Reeves' lawyer questioned whether prosecution witnesses heard or saw things accurately — and suggested that Oulson got in his client's personal space.
Oulson's wife, Nicole, sat in the courtroom during the long hearing. Reeves sat at the defense table in civilian clothes with no handcuffs but did not speak.
The business of whether Reeves would be granted bail by Judge Pat Siracusa was not decided on Wednesday, however. So many witnesses were called — and so many questions asked by both prosecutors and defense attorneys — that the hearing was set to continue on Friday.
