LOCAL : Shooting Tied to Love Triangle

A dispute between two men over a woman they were both dating ended with one of the men shot to death and the other in custody, Los Angeles police said today.

The victim, a 30-year-old Van Nuys man whose name was not released, was shot Monday night at a home in the 5700 block of Troost Avenue in North Hollywood.

Gary Bergantino, 42, was arrested on suspicion of murder. The woman who was the subject of the dispute was in the house at the time of the shooting, but it was unclear whether she witnessed it, police said.

“The two men had been dating the same woman and had prior confrontations regarding this arrangement,” Detective Michael Coffey said. “During this final encounter, Bergantino brandished a handgun, at which time the victim produced a knife. . . . He was fatally shot by the suspect.”

Coffey said that Bergantino, a plumber, had had a relationship with the woman for several years and that the victim, a roofer, also began dating her a few months ago.

“I think she was willingly dating both men and hadn’t decided” which man to stop seeing, the detective said.