Intense new body camera footage shows a shootout at a Fort Lauderdale hotel last week that left a suspect dead and a police officer saved by his tactical vest.
The video released by Fort Lauderdale Police on Thursday details the March 21 shootout at a Holiday Inn Express that left 46-year-old Karl Chludinsky dead.
Officers had responded to the hotel after receiving a text to 911 from a man reporting that he killed someone inside his hotel room.
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The suspect later mentioned his wife was being sexually assaulted and that he would kill anyone who approached his room, police said.
Included in the video released by police were radio communications about the information received from the suspect.
"Caller stating he has guns and will start shooting at whoever is at his front door and also rambling stating his wife is being raped," a woman says in the communications. "Caller states he sees a therapist…he is stating he has fully automated and three handguns with him and he will shoot and states he hears his wife struggling she's being raped."
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The body camera video shows multiple officers in tactical gear approaching the hotel room door with rifles and handguns drawn.
"It's the police, come out, come out with your hands up!" one officer yells as the man suddenly opens the door and officers yell "Hands up! Hands up!"
Chludinsky can be seen with a handgun in his right hand and when he points it at the officers, they open fire and the door closes.
A few moments pass before Chludinsky opens fire from inside the room through the door and officers return fire.
"Pull back, pull back!" officers yell before one officer says he was shot.
"Hey, I'm hit, I'm hit pretty good," Officer Jack DiCristofalo says in the video.
DiCristofalo was taken to a local hospital and later released. Included in the police video were photos of the bullet that struck DiCristofalo lodged in his vest.
SWAT members responded to the hotel to enter the room where they found Chludinsky dead. No one else was inside the room.
A second officer wasn't shot but suffered minor injuries and was treated at the scene.
Chludinsky, a resident of Margate, had previous run-ins with police, records showed.
In 2022, Margate Police obtained a risk protection order against him, saying they believed he was a significant danger to himself or others. A judge also ordered that he surrender his firearms. After receiving mental health treatment, the risk protection order expired, and it appears Chludinsky was able to get his firearms back a year later.
Chludinsky's ex-wife later told NBC6 that he’d threatened her and her family multiple times and was "unstable."
The three officers who fired their weapons were placed on administrative leave while the incident is investigated, which is department policy.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement is investigating the shooting, which is also standard practice.
