Man arrested after Valentine's Day shooting in Palm Bay

A Cocoa man was arrested on Valentine's Day morning after police said he broke into a Palm Bay home and shot a man who lived there.

Travis Wayne Love, 22, was arrested Feb. 14 on charges of attempted murder, armed burglary, aggravated battery, possession of a firearm by a felon, and shooting into an occupied dwelling.

According to police records, Love was attempting to break into the Holbrook Road home of his ex-girlfriend around 3 a.m.

She took her 3-month-old child upstairs while Love attempted to open the sliding glass door and her boyfriend got his own firearm, police said.

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When the boyfriend opened the curtain to look through the sliding glass door, he saw Love pointing a gun at him. He then fired one shot at Love before his firearm jammed.

Love returned fire, hitting him in the leg. The woman called police.

The man was transported to Holmes Regional Medical Center where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

While investigating the shooting, Palm Bay detectives were contacted by Ocoee Police Department officers, who said Love was being treated at an Ocoee hospital with a gunshot wound to the hand, saying he'd been shot in the Melbourne area.

The couple told police Love repeatedly made unwanted contact with them and made vague threats leading up to the shooting.

A friend of Love's who drove him to the couple's home and to the hospital, told police who questioned her that Love took her pink handgun without her knowing and that she heard gunshots coming from the house.

Love is being held at the Brevard County Jail without bond.

Contact Vazquez at tvazquez@floridatoday.com, 321-917-7491 or on Twitter @tyler_vazquez. Support his work by subscribing to FloridaToday.com.