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(NEW YORK) — A police retired officer who was acquitted last month for shooting and killing a fellow moviegoer who threw popcorn in his face during an argument said he stands by his actions, saying he was defending himself.

Curtis Reeves, 79, told ABC News’ Nightline that he wished the fatal fight between him and Chad Oulson didn’t happen and he feels sadness for the 43-year-old’s family. However, the former SWAT captain contended he had no choice but to use deadly force in what he called “a vicious attack.”

“I wish that none of this would have happened at all, but I don’t feel like an instigator,” Reeves told ABC News.

Reeves and his wife, Vivian, and Oulson and his wife, Nicole, had attended a showing of Lone Survivor at the Cobb Theater near Tampa, Florida, on Jan. 13, 2014.

Oulson was checking text messages from his 22-month-old daughter’s daycare during previews, according to investigators.

Reeves said he was bothered by Oulson’s phone and asked him to turn it off, which led to an argument. Reeves left the theater to alert a manager, but the argument escalated when he returned to his seat.

Surveillance footage showed Oulson throwing popcorn at Reeves’ face, and then the former SWAT captain took out a .380 semi-automatic handgun and opened fire. Oulson was killed, and his wife was shot in a finger as she had her hand on her husband’s chest to hold him back during the confrontation.

Nicole Oulson told ABC News shortly after the 2014 shooting that her husband did not threaten Reeves before the gun was drawn.

“It was a couple of words. No threats. No harm. No nothing,” Nicole Oulson said.

Reeves told ABC News he was unaware that popcorn had hit him until after he opened fire.

“What was in my mind was he was either trying to hit me or he was trying to come over the seat,” he said.

Reeves was arrested and charged with second-degree murder. He was held under house arrest as his case made its way through criminal court.

Reeves tried to use Florida’s “stand your ground” law as his defense, but a judge denied his request in 2017.

The case went to trial earlier this year, and a jury acquitted Reeves on his charges on Feb. 25. Even without the “stand your ground” defense, Reeves’ attorneys successfully argued self-defense. They emphasized that an attack on someone over 65 is considered a felony in Florida and argued that Reeves actions were a “justifiable use of force.”

After the verdict, Nicole Oulson said in a statement to ABC News that the jury “got it wrong.”

“I want everyone to know that even though they tried to make Chad out to be a monster and the aggressor, he was an amazing man, husband, son, brother, friend and father,” she said.

“I will not just accept this result lying down,” Nicole Oulson said. “Chad may be gone, but he will never be forgotten, and I will use my voice to try and make sure no one has to experience what myself and my family had to go through.”

Reeves said he hasn’t had contact with the Oulson family but said he feels the same sadness for them as he does his own family. However, he said Oulson could have prevented the incident.

“It was something that was, I had no control over. He’s the only one that could have kept it from happening,” he said. “Certainly none of us, and I’m sure on both sides of the families, none of us wish it had happened like it did.”

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(PHILADELPHIA) — A Philadelphia police officer who fatally shot a 12-year-old boy after the boy allegedly fired into an unmarked police car and fled on foot will be fired, authorities said Tuesday.

Police Commissioner Danielle Outlaw announced that the officer will be suspended for 30 days, starting Friday, after which she intends to dismiss him for violating the department’s “use-of-force directive.”

“Based off of the evidence that I reviewed, it was clear that the use-of-force policy was violated,” Outlaw said during a press briefing.

The officer was one of four plainclothes officers in an unmarked car conducting surveillance in South Philadelphia on March 1 shortly before 7:30 p.m. when the shooting occurred, police said.

The officers approached two juveniles — a 17-year-old boy who they wanted to question and the 12-year-old boy — with the car’s emergency lights on, according to Outlaw.

The younger boy allegedly fired at the car, striking the passenger side rear window, police said. One of the officers was struck in the eye by glass after a bullet went through the car’s window, police said.

Two other officers then returned gunfire, shooting once each, before the suspect fled on foot with the firearm, Outlaw said. An officer gave chase and fired his gun twice, striking the boy in the back, she said.

The 12-year-old boy, identified by authorities as Thomas Siderio, was pronounced dead at a nearby hospital, police said.

“It’s tragic that we have trigger-pullers as young as 12,” said Outlaw. “And it’s tragic that we had one of our own, again, go against everything who we say we are. There are no winners here.”

None of the four officers have been identified by the department due to safety concerns, the commissioner said.

The officers were placed on administrative duty following the shooting, police said. The department did not have any further information Tuesday on the status of the other officers due to the ongoing investigation.

The 17-year-old was taken into custody following the shooting. He was later released and not charged, Outlaw said.

The Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office is conducting a criminal investigation into the shooting. No charges have been filed at this time.

“The death of a child is always a tragedy, and in this instance, a factually complex and deeply troubling one based on preliminary investigative information,” District Attorney Larry Krasner said in a statement.

“Philadelphians are owed a comprehensive and transparent accounting of all activity surrounding the circumstances of young Thomas Siderio’s death and an unbiased and thorough investigation,” he continued. “When it is appropriate for us to do so, we will disclose findings of our currently active investigation and decision on whether or not to pursue any criminal charges.”

Siderio’s family filed a civil lawsuit against the four officers involved in the shooting on Thursday, their attorney, Conor Corcoran, told ABC News.

“This 12 year old was murdered at point blank range by a Philadelphia police officer,” he said in an email to ABC News.

He said the commissioner was “correct” in firing the officer in question, but disputed that the boy had a gun.

“They are claiming that young TJ possessed or fired a gun, when my information indicates that the body still has its fingernails, and so no gunpowder residue testing was performed,” Corcoran said.

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(WASHINGTON) — The leader of the Proud Boys, Enrique Tarrio, has been charged with conspiracy related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, as part of the FBI’s ongoing investigation into the attack.

According to an indictment unsealed in federal court on Tuesday, Tarrio — though he wasn’t present at the Capitol on Jan. 6 — was instrumental in planning the riot.

Tarrio was arrested and released two days before the attack on separate charges stemming from an incident in November 2020, and was ordered to stay out of Washington, D.C., during the time frame surrounding the riot.

“The indictment alleges that Tarrio nonetheless continued to direct and encourage the Proud Boys prior to and during the events of Jan. 6, 2021,” said a statement from the Justice Department, “and that he claimed credit for what had happened on social media and in an encrypted chat room during and after the attack.”

Tarrio was indicted Tuesday on one count of each conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding and obstruction of an official proceeding, as well as two counts each of assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers and destruction of government property.

He was arrested in South Florida following the indictment.

In an interview last month with a local news station in Miami, Tarrio said he doesn’t agree with or condone what happened at the Capitol on Jan. 6.

“We went to Washington, D.C., with the intent of sitting there and supporting President Trump and then drink beer after, and obviously, I wasn’t there and I can’t tell you what was in their heads, but I think the mob mentality just took over,” he told WTVJ.

Tarrio has not yet spoken to ABC News regarding Tuesday’s indictment.

The indictment of Tarrio “shows the complex nature of the ongoing investigation,” Javed Ali, former senior counterterrorism director at the National Security Council, told ABC News.

“Despite the fact Tarrio was not physically present at the Capitol that day, the charge suggests that he played a role in organizing and communicating with other Proud Boys associates who committed crimes and have likewise been charged and arrested,” said Ali.

“In combination with the seditious conspiracy charges filed against Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes and several of his associates for their role on January 6th earlier this year, these legal strategies may put additional pressure on anti-government groups and deter any potential future violent plots,” he said.

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(WASHINGTON) — A Texas man who is the first to stand trial in the prosecution of those who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 was found guilty on all charges including obstruction of an official proceeding for his role in disrupting the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — Attorneys for Prince Andrew and his accuser Virginia Giuffre filed notice Tuesday morning in the Southern District of New York court informing the court that the parties have officially settled the case.

The court document states the case has been dismissed, “with prejudice” and that “each party” will bear their own costs and fees. “It is so stipulated,” the document concludes.

The stipulation for dismissal awaits a signature from the judge.

Last month, Prince Andrew agreed to settle a sexual assault lawsuit from Giuffre.

The sum of the settlement was not disclosed, and a letter to the court said that Prince Andrew “intends to make a substantial donation to Ms. Giuffre’s charity in support of victims’ rights.”

Giuffre had alleged that Jeffrey Epstein trafficked her to Prince Andrew, who she claimed took advantage and sexually abused her when she was under 18.

Prince Andrew had repeatedly denied the allegation and attacked Giuffre’s credibility and motives.

Giuffre and Epstein settled a civil lawsuit for $500,000 in 2009, which was the basis for Prince Andrew’s argument to have the case dismissed.

Epstein died by suicide at the at Metropolitan Correctional Center in Lower Manhattan in 2019. He had been set to stand trial for allegedly sexually abusing dozens of girls in New York and Florida.

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Six teenagers have been arrested on murder charges stemming from a drive-by shooting Monday outside a Des Moines, Iowa, high school that left a 15-year-old boy dead and critically injured two female students, police said on Tuesday.

The teenager who was fatally shot is believed to have been the intended target, the Des Moines Police Department said in a statement Tuesday.

Most of the suspects were arrested within an hour of the shooting and all were in custody in several hours, police said.

“While this incident occurred outside of a school, it could have occurred in any one of our neighborhoods. The school is where the suspects found their target,” police said in the statement.

The two wounded teenage girls remained in a hospital Tuesday with life-threatening injuries, police said.

The names of the suspects and the victims were not released.

In addition to first-degree murder, the suspects were charged with two counts each of attempted murder, authorities said.

Overnight, homicide detectives executed multiple residential and vehicle search warrants, and recovered multiple firearms, police said.

The shooting unfolded Monday afternoon outside East High School. The two injured girls were both students at the school, while the slain boy was not, police said.

The motive for the shooting remains under investigation.

“Unfortunately, what happened here … is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.

The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — One teenager is dead and two others remain hospitalized after a shooting Monday afternoon outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, police said.

The shooting occurred outside East High School, according to the Des Moines Police Department.

Two female East High School students, ages 16 and 18, were hospitalized in critical condition.

The teenager who died was a 15-year-old boy. He was not a student at the school.

“Unfortunately what happened here today is just another pointless tragedy in our community, people using firearms to settle their differences,” Des Moines Police Chief Dana Wingert said Monday.

The gunfire appears to have come from a passing vehicle, police said.

Police said Monday night that potential suspects have been detained, but no charges have been filed at this time.

“Witnesses are being interviewed, evidence examined, investigative leads followed, and multiple search warrants are being executed,” police said in a news release.

The high school was immediately on lockdown Monday afternoon, but Des Moines Public School District tweeted students were being dismissed on time after police and the school district gave an all-clear.

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(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla.) — Police are searching for a suspect after a married couple was found stabbed to death on the side of the road early Sunday morning in Daytona Beach.

“We will spare no expense and leave no stone unturned in order to solve this case,” Daytona Beach Police Chief Jakari Young said in a statement Monday. “I assure you that our detectives are doing all they can to bring justice to the loved ones of these victims.”

Daytona Beach residents Terry Aultman, 48, and Brenda Aultman, 55, were found with multiple stab wounds and lacerations, police said. They were declared dead at the scene.

According to police, they believe the couple was riding their bicycles from Main Street between 1 and 2 a.m. Sunday before they were attacked. Police found them on the corner of Wild Olive and Riverview.

Police said they believe the Aultmans were biking home from Bike Week festivities when the attack happened.

No motive or suspect is known at this time.

Police said they are looking for a man wearing white or light colored pants and potentially a backpack.

Anyone with information is asked to contact the Daytona Beach Police Department.

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — Multiple people were shot Monday afternoon outside a high school in Des Moines, Iowa, police said.

The shooting occurred outside East High School, according to police.

The high school was on lockdown.

The circumstances of the shooting and whether or not the victims are students is unclear.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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(NEW YORK) — At least 356 Haitian migrants traveled by boat on a dangerous trek to the coast of the Ocean Reef community in Key Largo, Florida, on March 6, according to U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

CBP took custody of 158 people who swam to the shore from the vessel, according to Alan Regalado, the public affairs specialist for CBP in Florida. The 198 people who stayed on the boat were stopped and transferred to U.S. Coast Guard boats.

“It’s [a] really, really dangerous [trek], especially because of the conditions — I mean, over 300 people in one vessel? I mean, they’re just not equipped for that trip,” Regalado told ABC News.

He added, “Not only that, but the smuggling organizations and everything that migrants have to go through in the process — it’s just not a safe thing to do.”

CBP, the U.S. Coast Guard, and other local and state agencies responded to the incoming vessel.

“Multiple agencies responded quickly & worked closely to protect a lot of lives today,” said Lt. Cmdr. Jason Neiman, with Coast Guard District Seven, in a tweet.

According to CBP, the processing of such migrants who made it onto U.S. soil after their voyage depends on their claims and background.

However, those 158 migrants may be subject to Title 42, which is a clause of the 1944 Public Health Services law that allows the government to expel migrants without giving them a chance to apply for asylum during a public health emergency.

Many Haitian refugees have left their countries due to the devastating impacts of natural disasters and political instability that have also resulted in economic struggles for the country.

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