JUMPED THE GUN BEFORE
Waldorf partier once shot self in foot
He’s got his butter finger on the trigger.
The wedding guest who accidentally shot a woman in the Waldorf Astoria put a bullet in his own foot on Christmas Eve in another klutzy move with a gun, sources told The Post on Monday.
Not so sharp shooter Vladimir Gotlibovsky, 42, thought a car was following him as he was driving to make a bank deposit for his liquor business, so he pulled over and took out his .380caliber automatic from his pants pocket, sources said.
When the car drove off, he tried to put the gun back in his pants and it went off.
Cops seized that gun, as well as Gotlibovsky’s .45caliber Glock, although he got his gun license back in March, sources said.
Meanwhile, new details emerged about the wedding fiasco at the Midtown hotel.
Russian singer Philipp Kirkorov, the “Michael Jackson of the Russian community,” was about to take the stage at the reception when cops came, sources told The Post.
“This wedding is over! Who has the gun? We want it now!’’ cops shouted at the hundreds of “selfproclaimed Russian royalty” in attendance, according to the sources.
Gotlibovsky had accidentally fired the gun stashed in his pants pocket during a prewedding cocktail hour, wounding four.
“When the gun went off, the mother of the bride fainted,’’ a source said.
Cops moved in after the wedding ceremony, which went on as planned because the bride and groom, Anna Goldshmidt and Elan Stratiyevsky, hadn’t been around for the shooting and were unaware it had even occurred.
“The guests were searched till midnight,” a source said. “Guests who were staying at the hotel were searched and then allowed to go to their rooms. Others had to physically be escorted to their cars with the police.”
Gotlibovsky’s lawyer Arthur Gershfield said his client was “obviously upset about the fact that the wedding did not go on.’’
Gotlibovsky’s gun has been taken before. In 1995, he lost it in a dispute over whether his permit allowed him to carry all the time.
Authorities ruled in his favor, and he got it back.
He’ll likely duck charges in the wedding shooting. Cops charged him with reckless endangerment and evidence tampering for passing the gun off to relatives, but the DA has declined to prosecute.
“This was an accident, and accidents do happen,’’ said John Chambers, another lawyer for Gotlibovsky.