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Witnesses, police disagree over Ybor City shooting
Roobik "Tony" Vartanian was shot by police Friday night.
TAMPA (Bay News 9) -- More details are coming to light about an officer-involved shooting that took the life of an Ybor City bar manager Friday night.
Police and witnesses said the events that led to the shooting started at Club Prana in Ybor City, where 35-year-old Roobik "Tony" Vartanian worked as a bar manager.
This is what investigators say happened: Vartanian had asked two men to stop banging on the club's walls, and another manager asked them to leave. Vartanian followed the men outside, where they started to argue. The men ended up by Vartanian's townhome, right behind the club, where his three-year-old daughter was sleeping.
The shooting took place on Sixth Avenue in Ybor City, behind Club Prana.
After this point, police and witnesses tell two different stories.
Police said that two plainclothes police officers heard the commotion and asked Vartanian to drop his weapon. They said he was making threats, and that he refused to put down the gun and pointed it at Tampa police officer Rick Harrell.
Harrell fired one shot, hitting Vartanian in the stomach. He later died at Tampa General Hospital.
However, according to Bay News 9's partner paper, the St. Petersburg Times, witnesses say Harrell did not identify himself as a police officer. They also said that, while Vartanian had a gun, he wasn't pointing it at anyone.
The Times also reports that Vartanian had previously helped law enforcement officials break up a state-wide drug ring.
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