Latvian Moviegoer Shot, Killed In Popcorn Dispute

This is more sad than ridiculous. Call it sadly ridiculous.

The Guardian of London reports, with a clarification from The Register, that a man in Latvia was shot and killed in a Riga movie theater after a dispute over popcorn. The victim, a 43-year old man, accused a man of chewing his movie snack too loudly, the papers report, something the accused did not take kindly.

The alleged shooter is a 27-year old police academy graduate who holds a law degree. The pair were seeing the movie "Black Swan," and the alleged shooter waited until the lights came back on to fire the gun. Possibly a questionable decision. Fellow moviegoers called the police, who cuffed the accused.

Comments

[LiteSleeper]

06:49 PM on 02/22/2011

I think it's more idi0tic than sad

[Psi Onikk]

06:17 PM on 02/22/2011

That's why when I go to the movies I always take a pair of earplugs. There's always a nutbag or two that talks loudly or eats/drinks loudly during the movie. I just pop in the earplugs...it drowns out the noise around you but you can still hear the movie.

[Hypocrites are Watching]

04:12 PM on 02/22/2011

Damn them lawyers

[Katherine Berezniy]

03:51 PM on 02/22/2011

I lost a friend who was shot over a parking space in front of his house ..people snap over the littlest things, it's the tipping point of other bigger issues not being properly dealt with.

[an]

05:08 PM on 02/22/2011

there is a segment of the population that will always snap over the littles things. the real problem only arises if they have guns.

[Rooster Coburn]

01:26 PM on 02/23/2011

Bu, bu, but, don't they have "gun control" up the wim-wam in Latvia?

[TheFabOne]

02:40 PM on 02/22/2011

That's bad.

Getting shot because you wanted a little more butter on your popcorn.

Shame.

[ontariogirl]

02:38 PM on 02/22/2011

Well......I could see myself going off over the price of the popcorn but loud chewing. Condolences.

[nicesith]

02:17 PM on 02/22/2011

you suck huffpo!!!!
what does this have to do with "black swan"???
other than coincidence......

[mukTech]

01:08 AM on 02/23/2011

Yeah, really!! They suck! I agree.

[Panasit Ch]

02:11 PM on 02/22/2011

I don't know how this is not getting through to people. The guy who was accused of chewing the popcorn too loudly was the one who killed the guy that was annoyed. Not the other way around.

Nobody got shot for chewing the popcorn too loudly.

So you see, comments like: "cell phone users beware", "guess he really enjoyed the movie", or "It's ridiculous to kill over popcorn", make no sense. The one being bothered was the one who is dead.

[JaxReader]

06:44 PM on 02/22/2011

I just can't believe they shot a guy because he was chewing his popcorn too loud....

ok ... jk. I was thinking the same thing. I think people don't read these articles, just the headlines and then comment.

[Nor Cal Mom]

01:58 PM on 02/22/2011

What the..?!?

[MrJohnSpeaks]

01:28 PM on 02/22/2011

Some citizens of this old world have just lost it.

[rayinprague]

01:27 PM on 02/22/2011

The Baltic States have some of the highest violent crime rates in Europe. Regarding this story, I read elsewhere that the assailant is a lawyer and he is pleading self defense. The justice system in much of Eastern Europe isn't very transparent. i wouldn't be surprised if there is no conviction and a ponderous explanation as to why.

[Michelle Brajkovic]

08:57 PM on 02/22/2011

Hey wow, i'm from balkans, this could have just as easily happen in America or anywhere else, got nothing to do with the balkans. There is also corruption in alot more places, it's just covered up better.

The fact that this guy had just graduated from the police academy explains why he had a gun but also He has to live with the fact now that he killed someone over this and will be punished.

[Rooster Coburn]

01:28 PM on 02/23/2011

Latvia is a Baltic nation, not a Balkan one.

[Holypat777]

01:16 PM on 02/22/2011

Well, no Latvian film festivals for me.

[Tsckey]

12:32 PM on 02/22/2011

This is why the American 2nd Amendment makes so much sense. If the Latvians all could have been carrying guns, and did, then when the police academy/lawyer pulled his piece then everyone else could have, too, and they all could have blasted away until justice was served. I understand that the Latvian mortuary association is lobbying for mandatory gun possession.

[Veerle Swartebroekx]

11:14 AM on 03/01/2011

Amen!

[Donuthole]

12:18 PM on 02/22/2011

I kid you not--when I went to see Black Swan (several weeks after opening, in a half-full theater) another patron had some kind of stroke, passed out, had to be taken out by paramedics. After the show, we talked to the ticket taker, she said that they'd had to call more aid cars for audiences at Black Swan than all the other films they were showing combined. I dunno, maybe they put something in the popcorn, maybe it was the movie itself...

[LonosCurse]

03:40 PM on 02/22/2011

Whatever they put in the popcorn sure did make it crunchy.

[ttaz4dqm]

02:07 PM on 02/22/2011

Yeah, especially here in Phoenix!