Man who shot cop killed in gunfire after calling 911 from Fort Lauderdale hotel: police
A man with a history of mental health issues was killed during a shootout with Fort Lauderdale police Thursday after telling 911 that he had killed a woman at a 17th Street Causeway hotel., according to authorities.
Around 7:40 a.m., Karl Chludinsky told a 911 operator that he killed a woman at the Holiday Inn Express, 1500 SE 17th Street Causeway, Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William Schultz told reporters outside the hotel.
After Chludinsky, a 46-year-old from Margate, didn’t answer calls to his room nor respond to officers standing outside the door, Fort Lauderdale cops stormed the room. That’s when he shot one of the officers, who Schultz said then opened fire before Chludinsky “barricaded himself.”
Moments later, Schultz added that a SWAT team swarmed in, only to find his body and no other person in the room.
It was not immediately known whether the man was killed by the three officers who shot at him or from one of his bullets, Casey Liening, a police spokeswoman, told reporters.
Police did not identify the injured cops.
Schultz said the officer shot during the incident was taken to Broward Health Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries. He’s since been released and is expected to make a full recovery. Another, who was not shot, suffered minor injuries.
The trio of Fort Lauderdale officers who shot at the man will be put on administrative leave as the Florida Department of Law Enforcement investigates, Schultz said.
Legal troubles?
Chludinsky faced both criminal and personal troubles in the past two decades, according to court records and people who knew him.
In January 2022, Margate Police Department filed in Broward County court a petition for a Risk Protection Order against Chludinsky after both his mother and then-girlfriend told doctors they had to convince him to take a gun out of his mouth as he threatened to kill himself, records show.
The order against Chludinsky, who was diagnosed with unspecified psychosis and schizophrenia, was granted and Margate police confiscated his guns and ammunition. After the order expired, police returned the guns to him in April 2023.
READ MORE: Man who shot Fort Lauderdale cop had history of abuse, mental health issues: sources
In 2020, he was sentenced to more than a year of probation for driving under the influence and possessing meth, according to Broward court records.
Chludinsky had previously been given probation for a cocaine-related charge in 2006.
Up until early this year, American Express National Bank was garnishing his checks for a debit totaling over $8,000 in which the bank sought civil court action, court records reveal.
’Oh my God.’
Karen Bianco of Rhode Island told the Miami Herald she was in a taxi heading to her hotel from Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport when she and her fellow traveler spotted the large police presence.
The shooting caused major traffic tie-ups Thursday morning, which cleared up by the afternoon rush hour.
When Bianco got closer, she realized the officers were at the Holiday Inn, where they would be staying Thursday night before leaving on a 10-day cruise the next day.
“We were having such a hard time getting here because of the commotion but we didn’t know,” Bianco said. “And, I went, ‘oh my God.’”
Miami Herald reporter Devoun Cetoute contributed to this report.
This story was originally published March 21, 2024 at 9:33 AM.
