Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
NILES, Ohio (WKBN) – Police say a man shot inside a Niles apartment may have initially gone there with bad intentions.
Around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, police said a woman called 911 about 27-year-old Rodney Cole, Jr., of Youngstown, who had been shot in the 100 block of Royal Mall Dr.
Dispatcher: “911, where is your emergency?”
Caller: “Uh, yeah, my boyfriend has been shot.”
Dispatcher: “Pardon me?”
Caller: “My boyfriend has been shot.”
Dispatcher: “Who shot him? Are they still there?”
Caller: “It was me.”
When officers got there, they found Cole had been shot in the torso.
Police said he tried to lie to them about where the shooting happened, first saying it happened at a bar.
But, officers said they noticed the apartment’s back door had been kicked open, there was a shell casing inside and Cole had a gun in his waistband.
Police said it seemed he came to the apartment with bad intentions and forced his way inside by kicking the door open.
“Early information is pointing to, that subject broke into the apartment and was met by the resident of the apartment and a shot was exchanged,” said Niles Police Capt. John Marshall.
The woman was upstairs at the time with a small child when Cole found them and drew a gun on them, according to police. The woman pulled out her own gun and shot Cole, police said.
He was taken to the hospital with serious injuries. At last check, he was in stable condition.
Cole has been charged with aggravated burglary.
Police say Cole and the woman who lives at the apartment share a child together.
“It looks like there is some history of domestic violence or at least cases that may have involved domestic violence here at the police department,” Marshall said.
Cole was booked into the county jail on a domestic violence charge in September 2020. According to Niles Municipal Court records, he pleaded no contest and was found guilty of a reduced charge.
Police continue to investigate the shooting.