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Man Killed By Police Was Ybor City Nightclub Bouncer

Photo by BRYAN FARROW

Tampa police detectives collect evidence after a fatal shooting in Ybor City Saturday morning.

By STEVEN GIRARDI | The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 6, 2008

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Roobik Vartanian

TAMPA A man shot and killed this morning by a plain-clothes officer was a bouncer at an Ybor City nightclub, police said.

More details emerged as police continued to investigate the shooting of Roobik Vartanian, 35, 1611 E. Sixth Ave., who died at Tampa General Hospital after he was shot in stomach about 1:22 a.m., police said.

A statement issued late this morning by the Tampa Police Department gave the following account:
Vartanian was among a group of Club Prana employees involved in kicking two Orlando men out of the bar for being disorderly. Vartanian grabbed a gun from another employee and began yelling racial slurs at the Orlando men and threatened to kill them.

The officer, Rick Harrell, an 18-year veteran and a member of a plain clothes anti-crime unit, was patrolling with a partner in an unmarked police van when they heard the threats. The officers got out the van, saw Vartanian was armed and ordered him to drop the weapon.

"Instead of complying with the police order, the suspect turned and pointed the gun at the officer. Officer Harrell fired one shot and hit the suspect in the stomach. He was transported to Tampa General Hospital where he died. The officer and the two men involved in the argument were not injured," a police statement said.

No one is facing charges in connection with the shooting at 1609 E. Sixth Ave., police said. Vartanian did not have a concealed weapons permit and has been arrested on six felonies and four misdemeanors in the past, police said.

He lived in Jacksonville until recently, where he once worked with police as a confidential informant, according to U.S. District Court of Appeals 11th Circuit records.

Following his narcotics arrest in March 2003 for trafficking ecstasy, Vartanian helped to arrange for the delivery of 5,000 ecstasy pills from Miami to Jacksonville, the records show. Police arrested three people on trafficking charges in a sting operation as they tried to buy the drugs in April 2003.

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