Trial Date Set For Grove 16 Shooter

By Matt Wiley

More than a year after fatally shooting a man in a Wesley Chapel movie theater, a trial date finally has been set for retired Tampa cop Curtis Reeves, Jr.

According to court records, Pasco Sixth Judicial Court Circuit Judge Pat Siracusa officially set Reeves’ trial date for Monday, August 24, 9 a.m., in Dade City. Reeves is charged with second degree murder for the Jan. 13 fatal shooting of Land O’Lakes resident Chad Oulsen, 43, during an argument about texting before a movie inside the Cobb Theatres Grove 16 movie theater in The Grove shopping plaza in Wesley Chapel. Reeves, 72, has entered a plea of not guilty. 

Siracusa originally had scheduled the trial for the State of Florida v. Curtis J. Reeves to begin in early March, but that date was tentative. Another pretrial hearing is set for April 30.

Prior to the fatal shooting last January, Reeves reportedly asked Oulsen several times to stop texting during the previews before the matinee showing of “Lone Survivor,” a film about the U.S. war in Afghanistan, and even complained to theater management. Oulsen said he was texting his young daughter’s babysitter before he was shot in the chest. The bullet also hit the finger of Oulsen’s wife Nicole, who had her hand on her husband’s chest.

Reeves’ attorneys have argued 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.