Man Charged With Attempted Murder After Love Triangle Leads to Innocent Man Getting Shot

An Ohio man allegedly shot a guy walking around his apartment after driving to confront a(nother) man he thought was having a relationship with his girlfriend.

A just fired gun resting on the floor.
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Image via Getty/cmannphoto

A just fired gun resting on the floor.

Niklas Trkula, a 21-year-old man from the northeast Ohio village of Middlefield, has been arrested after allegedly shooting a guy due to some unspecified drama regarding a love triangle

Trkula is currently being held in jail, where he faces attempted murder and felonious assault charges. He remains without bail.

As for the victim, he was taken to a hospital and is expected to survive. 

According to police, the shooting happened on Sunday afternoon at an apartment complex. Officers arrived after being alerted via multiple '911' calls that somebody had fired a gun in the area. 

The victim was shot in the right leg and, as if that wasn't bad enough, he was not even the intended target of Trkula. Instead he was just a guy who happened to be watching TV in a nearby apartment. 

Police say that the shooting came about as a result of a love triangle divided up between Trkula, a woman, and the person who Trkula had intended to shoot. 

Trkula had driven from his village to the city of Niles (about 30 miles away) due to his belief that his live-in girlfriend was at the apartment of the person he was targeting. A police report, quoting a witness, said that Trkula had been involved in several disturbances at the apartment complex.

A person who called 911 was also reported to have said "This is a guy that’s here all the time. Don’t worry, this whole neighborhood’s gonna help you out with this dude."

Following the shooting, Trkula and his girlfriend fled the scene. He was arrested about an hour later. 

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