Complex sentence: Violante encountered a very similar man as he and Moskowitz were in the park shortly before the shooting, describing him as a "grubby-looking hippy" with whiskers, wiry hair over his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.
Split into simpler sentences: Violante encountered a very similar man, because he and Moskowitz were in the park shortly before they were shot. Violante described him as a "grubby-looking hippy" with whiskers, wiry hair over his forehead, dark eyes, and wearing a denim jacket.