Ex-officer Reeves pleads not guilty to fatal cinema shooting

A retired Florida police captain accused of fatally shooting a man in a cinema last month after a texting confrontation has pleaded not guilty at a day-long bail hearing that resembled a mini-trial.

Curtis Reeves Jnr, 71, is charged with second-degree murder as well as aggravated battery in the shooting death of Chad Oulson, 43, in Wesley Chapel, north of Tampa.

Mr Oulson died on January 13 after a row with Mr Reeves over his use of a mobile phone to text his two-year-old daughter’s babysitter, Pasco County sheriff’s deputies said.