Iraq veteran accused as movie theater shooter

Iraq vet held in movie shooting

The Associated Press
Posted : Friday Jan 2, 2009 6:32:02 EST

PHILADELPHIA — The alleged gunman involved in a Christmas night shooting over noisy moviegoers is an Iraq war veteran, a churchgoer and a newlywed who fired in self-defense, his lawyer said.

James Joseph Cialella, 29, of Philadelphia, is charged with firing a shot that broke the arm of Woffard Lomax Jr. inside a movie theater during a screening of the film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.”

Lomax, 31, described the shooting for the first time in public Wednesday at a preliminary hearing, when a judge ordered Cialella held for trial on aggravated assault, reckless endangerment and related charges. The judge tossed out an attempted murder charge over a prosecutor’s objections.

According to Lomax, he was at the movie with his girlfriend and her three teenagers, enjoying the film and laughing, when a man in front of him — not Cialella — told him to quiet down.

“We can’t laugh?” Lomax recalled asking.

A second man threw popcorn at the family, and a brawl ensued. Lomax said he was fighting with the first man when the second man pulled out a gun and fired, striking him in the left arm.

A defense lawyer argued that Cialella was being choked and punched as he tried to break up the fight and fired in self-defense.

“He’s a marksman,” lawyer Greg Pagano said. “If he wanted to shoot to kill, he would have.”
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