HOLLYWOOD, FLA. (WSVN) - A new video of the Hollywood shooting obtained by 7News has called the police department’s assertions that the suspect was naked false.
Hollywood Police originally said it was an armed naked man who pointed a gun at police and was subsequently shot. The owner of the video did not want it to be broadcast, but it makes it clear that the shooting didn’t play out that way.
“It sounded like a pack of 20 firecrackers going off,” said a resident.
Hollywood Beach was filled with gunfire Monday night.
“My heart. I’ve been up all night,” said Liz Kofsky. “I’ve never been that close to hearing gunshots.”
Kofsky watched the shooting from her balcony and said it began when the suspect threatened her neighbor.
“He said that he was riding his bike, and somebody in a car pointed a gun at him. The next thing he knew, somebody had already called the police,” she said.
When police arrived, they focused on the white car, with 41-year-old Roman Ivintsky behind the wheel.
7News was able to view surveillance video which captured the incident, but the owner of the video did not want it to be broadcast.
It does appear to be showing Ivintsky pointing a gun at police officers several times before the shooting. He was taken to the hospital, where he is recovering.
What’s confusing is that police officers initially told reporters that the calls came in as a naked man walking near the beach. The report went on to say, “When officers arrived on the scene they observed a naked white male armed with a gun.”
When 7News described the video to a spokesperson of the Hollywood Police department that the man was indeed clothed, they revised the report by crossing out the word “naked.”
Officers said there was simply confusion over separate 911 calls.
Whether the man they encountered with the gun has any connection to the other complaints remains unknown.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting portion of the incident.
Ivintsky is still in the hospital, but he faces a charge of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
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