A million-dollar Jewish wedding reception last Saturday was over before it began when the groom’s cousin accidentally shot four people.
Anna Goldschmidt had married Elan Stratiyevsky in a traditional Jewish ceremony earlier in the day.
She was preparing for her reception at the Waldorf Astoria when hotel staff told her it had to be cancelled because four people – including two wedding guests - had been shot.
According to police, Vladimir Gotlibovsky, 42, had been in possession of a 9mm Ruger which accidentally went off. The bullets reportedly hit the hotel’s marble floor and then ricocheted into people standing nearby.
Wedding guest Maya Rafailovich suffered a non-life-threatening head injury, and another guest, as well as two hotel workers, were hurt.
The bride wept as hotel security workers shut down the reception. The Manhatten hotel reportedly cancelled the wedding because the police had not found the gun by the time the reception started.
Gotlibovsky was arrested following the incident. The gun, which he had a permit for, apparently went off while he was retrieving his seating card, a police source told the Daily News.