FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A police-involved shooting at a Holiday Inn Express hotel in Fort Lauderdale left a man from Margate dead and sent an officer to the hospital, police said.
Aerial footage from 7Skyforce showed a heavy police presence surrounding the hotel along Southeast 17th Street, just west of the causeway, approaching 15th Avenue, Thursday morning.
According to Fort Lauderdale Police Chief William Schultz, the incident began around 7:39 a.m. when police were notified via a text to 911 of a suspicious incident.
“The caller reported that he had killed someone inside the hotel room,” said Schultz.
When officers attempted to make contact with the suspect, investigators said, they were met with gunfire.
“Shots were fired at the officers at that time. Our officers exchanged gunfire with the suspect, at which time the suspect barricaded himself in that same room,” said Schultz.
Investigators said an officer was hit and rushed to the hospital.
“Coming in as a shooting call. It’s gonna be for an officer down,” a dispatcher was heard saying in radio transmissions.
“Look at this [expletive], bro. Like, look,” a man is heard saying in cellphone video showing a Fort Lauderdale Fire Rescue ambulance pulling into the hotel.
Thankfully, the officer’s injuries were not life-threatening.
Back at the hotel, police called in the department’s SWAT unit.
“A SWAT call was initiated and entry was made. The suspect was discovered dead inside the room,” said Schultz.
FLPD identified the suspect as 46-year-old Karl Chludinsky of Margate.
Police said that no one else was inside the room at the time of the shooting.
The injured officer was transported by FLFR to Broward Health Medical Center, where he was treated and released. A second officer suffered minor injuries unrelated to gunfire and was treated on the scene by FLFR. Both officers are adult males.
The shooting takes place as college students descend on Fort Lauderdale Beach to enjoy spring break. The hotel, located blocks away from the sand, was far from empty at the time of the incident.
Two young men who are staying at the hotel spoke with 7News hours after the incident.
“We thought that someone was banging on our door. We heard it, we jumped on the floor, and we just laid there,” said a guest.
“Just gunfire, just, ‘boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom,'” said the other guest.
Before they cleared and reopened the busy road, police towed a white pickup truck from the hotel’s parking lot.
In total, three Fort Lauderdale Police officers fired their duty weapons in response to the incident. All three will be placed on administrative leave pending the investigation.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is now investigating the incident.
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