Cinema-going gunman pleads self-defense in Philadelphia

AP Photo/Phila. PD James Joseph Cialella

James Joseph Cialella, 29, shot and wounded fellow movie goer, Woffard Lomax on Christmas day during a viewing of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.  The altercation between the two men allegedly began because the Lomax family was making a lot of noise during the movie. 

According to his lawyer, Cialella has pleaded self-defense to charges lodged against him.  It's not clear exactly what took place before the shooting in the theater.  On Christmas Day, police reported that someone else had asked the Lomax family to be quiet before Cialella got involved.  The report also said that Cialella threw popcorn at someone's son.  The report concluded that Lomax was shot when Cialella began walking towards his family and he (Lomax) stood up. 

Today's report has it that Lomax was in the theater with his girlfriend and her three teenage daughters (no son) and Cialella's lawyer is arguing that Cialella was being choked and punched as he tried to break up a fight between Lomax and someone else, adding the claim that Cialella fired the gun in self-defense. 

Someone purporting to be an associate pastor at a church Cialella has attended posted a response on a blog, 

"I'd not seen him for quiet [sic] a while and he told me he'd recently returned from serving in Iraq, just gotten married and was looking forward toward getting his degree. I remember thinking how awesome it was that he'd pulled his life together, as I remember the struggle he had in his late teens and early twenties."

The same writer also wrote:

"I forwarded the news piece to my Pastor, and later on in a follow up phone call he said something to the effect that he was glad he preached a good message that day considering that Jim did not shoot us at church."

Though I believe that most gun owners are responsible people, it seems clear to me that some people simply shouldn't have guns.  To get an expert opinion on gun rights, read David Codrea's blog. 

Lomax, the man who was shot in the arm, claims he and his family were only laughing at funny lines in the movie.  If it's true that other people asked the family to pipe down before the shooter became involved, it's far more likely that the family was being more disruptive than simply laughing at funny parts of the movie.  

Who hasn't been annoyed by noisy, inconsiderate people at the cinema before?  I've had a cougher sit right behind me during a movie.  It was bad enough that the inconsiderate germ-monger felt it was okay to go to a crowded movie theater and cough every two minutes.  But when I could actually feel the breath on the back of my neck, it was time to get up and move.  Only I couldn't because the theater was full.  I fantasized about dumping my drink over the cougher's head.  

And then there are the cinema goers who like to shake their cup of ice nervously, every few seconds for the hour and a half left of the movie once they finish off their 32 ounce soft drink.  Perhaps their nervousness is a direct result of not wanting to dash out of the theater to the restroom.  It's very distracting and rather like waiting for the proverbial other shoe to drop.  A stern look at the perpetrator doesn't usually work.  I've tried.  

When I went to see Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, a woman several rows behind me answered her cell phone and had a casual conversation, seemingly oblivious to the disruption she was causing.   

Years ago I went to see Arachnophobia by myself.  My children were toddlers and I had a three hour window of opportunity for escapism and chose to see a movie.  When I got to the theater, it was empty.  I sat in the middle of the theater.  Halfway through the previews of upcoming movies a man came into the theater and chose to sit right behind me.  What kind of person comes into a darkened theater and sits right behind the only other person in the theater? Being a polite Southern woman, I agonized over the possibility he would be offended when I got up and moved but my fear won out and I moved to the opposite side of the theater and several rows behind him.

Then there was the time I took my sister to see The Fellowship of the Ring.  The theater wasn't crowded. There were about 25 people in the theater.  A woman brought a baby with her and sat in the same row we were seated in.  The baby was approximately 10 months old.  When the baby started gurgling midway through the movie, I tuned it out.  But the baby's mother started shushing the baby loudly.  The baby began to cry and the woman started yelling at her baby.  Other people were bothered but nobody did anything.  Finally I said in as nice a way as I could manage, "Why don't you come back when you can get a babysitter?" 

The woman ignored me and continued to alternate between shushing and yelling at the hapless baby.  The baby began to wail.  The woman responded by shaking her baby rather harshly.  Nobody else in the theater said or did a thing. The baby began to scream in earnest. At this point, I wasn't even bothering about trying to watch the movie.  The frustrated woman then began hitting her baby.   I looked around and other movie watchers were making a concerted and bewildering effort to ignore the scene.  I couldn't.  I went to the lobby and complained to the manager.  I understand how hard it is to be a young single mother (I used to be one).  Everybody needs a little entertainment or escapism now and then.  But not  at the expense of one's child.  The manager gave the woman free passes to come back at another time and she left with the screaming child.

I wonder what would have happened in each of the aforementioned scenarios had someone had a gun.  I suspect that most gun owners are responsible thoughtful people who wouldn't dream of shooting someone over a baby crying or a woman talking on her cell phone during a movie.

Still, it is  clear to me that some people shouldn't have guns.  Unfortunately it is also clear that some people shouldn't have babies.

There's really no excuse for shooting a disruptive or noisy movie patron.  It's frustrating to be distracted by inconsiderate people at the theater but there's a very simple remedy.  Go tell the cinema manager.  Let them handle it.  If worse comes to worst, you can always see the movie later.  It won't kill you or land you in prison.