Grove 16 Shooter Curtis Reeves Released On $150,000 Bond

By Matt Wiley

Curtis Reeves, Jr., the accused Grove 16 shooter, has been released on bail, following a decision by the Second District Court of Appeals (DCA).

Reeves was released on $150,000 bond around 8 p.m. on July 11, after the DCA decided in favor of allowing Reeves, a retired Tampa cop, to be released on bail earlier that day.

“The Court now sets bond at the amount previously announced and in the manner previously set out at $150,000 with a condition that the Defendant remain at his residence with the exception of attending religious services, for medical treatment and to go to the grocery store,” judges wrote in their opinion.

The judges’ opinion also states that Reeves is to surrender all of his personal firearms to the Pasco County Sheriff’s Office (PCSO) or his lawyer and must wear an ankle monitor until his trial.

Another condition forbids him from having any contact with Nicole Oulsen, the widow of Chad Oulsen, who Reeves is charged with shooting to death for texting on January 13 during an afternoon showing of “Lone Survivor” at the Cobb Theatres Grove 16 movie theater, located in The Grove shopping plaza in Wesley Chapel. Nicole was struck in the hand by the bullet that killed her husband.

Reeves reportedly asked Oulsen several times to stop texting during the previews and even complained to theater management. Oulsen reportedly told him he was texting his young daughter’s babysitter before he was shot.

At a pretrial hearing on July 9, Pasco Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa, who originally denied bail to Reeves in February, set a pretrial hearing for September 10 to decide on a trial date, which likely won’t be until sometime in 2015.

Reeves attorneys argue that he fired the shot at Oulsen because he feared he was going to be beaten up and because Oulsen had just thrown something at his face, which turned out to be popcorn. His attorneys also argued that Oulsen threw his cell phone at Reeves and that it can be seen in dark surveillance video from inside the theater at the time of the incident.