Tampa Plain clothes officer kills Club Prana bouncer, 35
Quote:
TAMPA -- A plain clothes officer shot and killed a Club Prana bouncer who refused two orders to drop a gun early Saturday morning, Tampa police say.
According to spokeswoman Laura McElroy, this is what happened:
At 1:22 a.m., two Orlando men were kicked out of Club Prana, 1619 E Seventh Ave., for banging on the walls of the bar. Officer Rick Harrell and his partner were in an unmarked van patrolling the area around Seventh Avenue. They heard Roobik Vartanian, of 1611 E Sixth Avenue in Tampa, arguing with the men, shouting racial slurs at them and threatening to kill them.
The officers, members of the Street Anti Crime Unit, got out of their car on Sixth Avenue and noticed that Vartanian, 35, was armed with a gun he grabbed from another Club Prana employee. Officer Harrell ordered him to drop the weapon two times, but Vartanian turned and pointed the gun at Harrell.
The officer fired his gun, striking Vartanian in the stomach. He was taken to Tampa General Hospital where he died. Harrell was placed on paid administrative leave, which is standard procedure. His partner and the two men involved in the argument were not injured.
Vartanian did not have a concealed weapons permit and had previously been arrested on six felonies.
Until recently, he lived in Jacksonville, where he helped law enforcement officials bust an ecstasy ring in 2003.
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