Movie Theater Victim's Wife: 'My Whole World Shattered'

Nicole Oulson says couple were on rare date night when shooting occurred
By Arden Dier,  Newser Staff
Posted Jan 23, 2014 8:09 AM CST
Movie Theater Victim's Wife: 'My Whole World Shattered'
Nicole Oulson, the widow of Chad Oulson who was shot and killed over a texting dispute, is consoled by attorney TJ Grimaldi Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2014.   (AP Photo/The Tampa Tribune, Chris Urso)

Nicole Oulson spoke out yesterday about the shooting death of her husband, Chad, over the small matter of texting in a movie theater. The couple had been on a rare "date night" away from their 22-month-old daughter, "so I was just so excited and looking forward to spending the day with the love of my life," she said at a news conference, per ABC News. During previews at a showing of Lone Survivor, her husband sent one last text to the babysitter, before an argument broke out with Curtis Reeves—who now faces a second-degree murder charge. "And just to think that in the blink of an eye, my whole world just got shattered into a million pieces," she said. "And now I'm left trying to pick them all up and putting them back together."

Reeves' lawyers say they'll invoke Florida's Stand Your Ground law—a move that shocked Nicole. "She doesn't understand what he was defending himself over," one of her attorneys told the Tampa Bay Times. While Oulson hasn't ruled out suing the theater where the shooting took place, experts say it would mean proving the shooting was "foreseeable and preventable." But one notes that if a report of Reeves previously threatening other movie-goers checks out, "then I think the movie theater likely had some kind of a higher duty than just to let this guy keep coming back in." Some $20,000 has so far been donated to the Oulson family. "It's hard and it's so unbearable," Nicole said. "But I want to thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers." (More movie theaters stories.)

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