Bystander Shot After Being Caught in the Middle of a Lovers’ Triangle

A 26-year-old painter was shot in the arm Sunday afternoon outside a store in Trabuco Canyon when he was inadvertently caught in the middle of a lovers’ triangle, authorities said.

Donald Shelly, 26, a resident of nearby Holy Jim Canyon, apparently was wounded by a man who allegedly was chasing his girlfriend and another man. The man suspected in the shooting apparently believed that his girlfriend was having an affair with the other man, a Sheriff’s Department official confirmed late Sunday.

George Austin McCutcheon, a 37-year-old electrician who also lives in Holy Jim Canyon, was arrested later on suspicion of attempted murder, Sheriff’s Department Lt. Harold Schaffroth said.

According to Emory General Store owner Linda Emory, the incident began about 4 p.m. in the parking lot of her store.

“Here I am having a great old time ringing things up on the cash register, and the bell’s ringing, and I didn’t even hear the shot,” Emory said. “Then Don (Shelly) came in and said, ‘I’ve been shot, Linda.’ And sure enough, he was bleeding all over the floor.”

Emory said Shelly was wounded in the right arm as he walked through her store’s parking lot. She said the bullet went through Shelly’s arm.

Shelly refused treatment from paramedics but later admitted himself to Saddleback Community Hospital, where he was listed Sunday night in stable condition.

Deputies arrested McCutcheon a short distance away, after stopping his car in a nearby shopping center, Sheriff’s Department Lt. Tom Conner said.

“We bought the place in August and we’ve been trying really hard to clean it up, and this happens,” Emory said, sighing. “If he hadn’t come in they wouldn’t have had to close us down, but they were looking around for the bullet still. I was telling everyone business was up and the weather was great and then this happens. Boy.”