‘Love Triangle’ Incident Lands Wounded Man in Jail

A quarrel between two men over a woman left one man behind bars on suspicion of attempted murder with a self-inflicted bullet wound in his foot, police said Thursday.

About 10 p.m. Wednesday, Robert Campbell, 68, went to his ex-girlfriend’s apartment in the 22500 block of Oxnard Street. There he got into a fight with her new boyfriend, William Levitsky, 67, said Sgt. Danny Mastro, who described the incident as a “love triangle.”

Levitsky hit Campbell on the head with a piece of wood and took cover in the apartment while neighbors restrained Campbell, Mastro said.

Campbell then whipped out a 9-millimeter pistol and fired a shot into the apartment, but hit no one, Mastro said.

“Neighbors tried to stop him until police arrived, but he held them off with the gun,” said Mastro, of the West Valley Division.

The next morning, possibly despondent and knowing the police were after him, Campbell drove to a friend’s house in Simi Valley where he considered shooting himself, Mastro said. He changed his mind, but dropped the gun and it discharged, shooting him in the foot, the officer said.

At Kaiser Foundation Hospital in Woodland Hills, he told the staff he had a bullet wound and that police were after him, police said. Hospital employees summoned police, who arrested him on suspicion of attempted murder.

Campbell was in good condition Thursday in the jail ward at County/USC Medical Center.

“It worked out good for us,” said Mastro. “But I guess it’s funny and sad at the same time that these guys got into something like this. It’s kinda’ like a movie script.”