Lone Survivor Archives

Real Life Afghan Villager Who Saved “Lone Survivor” Now Facing Death Threats

It is a great movie – Lone Survivor. I sat on the edge of my seat and watched in horror as the events unfold, this Navy Seal fighting for his life against a group of Taliban fighters and the tremendous obstacles he faced trying to stay alive. Out of the four Navy Seals who ventured out on this special mission, only one survived and he survived only because of the help of an Afghan villager.

The movie is based on true events. The lone survivor is a Navy Seal named Marcus Luttrell and the Afghan who helped save his life is Mohammad Gulab.

Mohammad Gulab’s ordeal began in 2005, when Marcus Luttrell and three fellow Navy SEALs were ambushed by Taliban fighters in Afghanistan. A fierce fight left three dead and Luttrell, the only American survivor, with a broken back and several shrapnel wounds. Luttrell credits Gulab with saving his life, as the Afghan brought the wounded soldier into his home and protected him from the Taliban until US reinforcements arrived.

The scene was depicted in the 2013 movie “Lone Survivor.” Luttrell was also a friend of Chris Kyle, the subject of the new record-smashing movie “American Sniper,” and went through sniper training with him.

Yet although Gulab’s heroism has been depicted on the big screen, life has reportedly been hard for him since saving Luttrell. He has had to leave his hometown and hide from the Taliban, and at one point, he was reportedly attacked and shot in the leg.

Now he wants to come to America, where he believes he will be safer, but his lawyer tells FoxNews.com that bureaucracy is making the process difficult and slow. Gulab has said Luttrell offered to help him obtain a green card, but the relationship between the two men appears to have become strained while Gulab was visiting the US last year for the premiere of “Lone Survivor.” When contacted by FoxNews.com, Lutrell declined to comment on Gulab or his bid for asylum.

Guns – A Movie Theater – Texting – Popcorn – Bang – A Dead Body – Only In America

The tale as told by the Pasco County sheriff’s office, a witness and the victim’s friends is of a fatal clash between two Navy veterans who happened to sit near each other in a movie theater. A woman would later come forward and tell prosecutors that two weeks earlier at the movies, Mr. Reeves had menaced her for texting as well, describing a man in sharp contrast to the generous and kind neighbor the people on his block describe.

“What’s he bringing a gun to the movies for?” said Charles Cummings, a 68-year-old former Marine who was in the row ahead of Mr. Reeves and described him as “aggressive.” “That’s a happy place. No one is going to kill you there, except that he did go there and kill someone.”

“Lone Survivor,” a movie about a covert Navy SEAL operation, was set to start at 1:20 that Monday afternoon. The lights had dimmed halfway. The previews were being shown while stragglers made their way to the plush seats.

Only about 25 people attended the showing, among them a nurse and an off-duty sheriff’s deputy.

In front of Mr. Reeves was Chad W. Oulson, 43, of Land O’ Lakes, Fla., a finance manager at a local motorcycle dealership. Mr. Oulson was a 6-foot 4-inch motorcycle enthusiast, whose 22-month-old daughter, Alexis, was at home with a babysitter and not feeling well. So Mr. Oulson defied technology etiquette and texted the sitter. The light from his phone was visible in the semidarkness.

Mr. Cummings remembers Mr. Reeves kicking the seat in front of him.

“He was agitated,” Mr. Cummings said.

Mr. Reeves asked Mr. Oulson to quit texting. Mr. Oulson kept at it, explaining that he was just communicating about a preschooler. Mr. Reeves left in a huff to get a manager, but he returned alone.

Mr. Oulson complained about being tattled on, and the two men exchanged more words. The words got louder. That’s when Mr. Oulson made what would turn out to be a fatal move.

“He stood up,” said Joseph Detrapani, a friend of Mr. Oulson’s, who heard the story later. “That was it.”

This was a boutique theater with rows of large seats that are elevated from one another, with a foot and a half of legroom between them. Mr. Oulson turned to face Mr. Reeves and swung the popcorn bag at his side; kernels struck Mr. Reeves’ face.

Mr. Reeves, a co-founder of the Tampa Police Department’s first tactical response team, reacted. Struck in the face by what he told police was a “dark object,” he reached for his .380 and fired, just as his son, Matthew, also a police officer, entered the theater. Mr. Oulson’s wife, Nicole, had placed her hand on her husband’s chest and was struck in the finger.

Mr. Oulson was hit once in the chest. The people nearby laid him down on the floor and rested his head on Mr. Cummings’s foot. Mr. Cummings’s son called for help while the nurse in the audience rendered aid.

Police said Mr. Reeves sat down calmly, put the gun on his lap and stared ahead. A sheriff’s deputy from nearby Sumter County who saw the muzzle flash snatched the weapon from him. Police said Mr. Reeves resisted at first and then acquiesced.

The gun was jammed.

At 1:30, a call came over the police radio that someone had been shot at the theater. The police feared the worst and prepared to respond to mass casualties.

“When you hear this come over the radio, I can tell you, your heart drops,” Sheriff Chris Nocco told reporters.

Mr. Reeves’s clothes were taken for evidence, and he was taken to jail in a hazmat suit. TV cameras showed him walking up to the police cruiser as if it were his own, with no officer escorting him close behind.

His lawyer, Richard Escobar, said Mr. Reeves, who is charged with second-degree murder, acted in self-defense. He suggested that Mr. Reeves was hit in the face with something other than popcorn, and had every right to defend himself with deadly force.