JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A man is charged with murder after police say he shot his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend before turning the gun on himself.
Jarod Matthew Miller, 35, is also charged with one count of armed burglary and one count of shooting into an occupied dwelling.
Miller, who survived his injuries after undergoing surgery at UF Health Jacksonville, was booked on an absentee basis into the Duval County Jail. He was arrested Wednesday.
Jacksonville Sheriff's Lt. Steve Gallaher said police wait to see if an individual survives his or her injuries before charges are filed.
Police were called to a shooting in the 2000 block of Gibson Road in the early morning hours of Aug. 29. Officers found two people in a bedroom who had been shot.
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One person, 34-year-old Nicholas Hare, was dead and Miller was found with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Miller and Lindsey Varner, Hare's girlfriend, were in a relationship for nine years, but that ended 3½ years ago, Gallaher said.
After their relationship ended, Miller continued to contact Varner, but they weren't a couple. Varner began dating Hare about four months ago, and Miller tried contacting Varner more often, but not to the level that caused her to call police.
On the night of the shooting, Miller went to Varner's home unannounced and uninvited, police said, and forced his way into the home by firing shots into a glass door. Hare and Varner were in a bedroom when Hare heard the shots. Hare got up and was confronted by Miller, who fatally shot him in the head, Gallaher said.
Miller said something unintelligible to Varner before shooting himself in the head, police said. Varner was able to flee and call police.
Police have yet to talk to Miller, but he is being guarded at UF Health Jacksonville. The investigation is ongoing, Gallaher said.
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Hare's mother told Action News Jax that Miller called his ex-girlfriend on Tuesday from a hospital bed.
Hare's mother says police found out about that call and arrested Miller the next day.
She told us over the phone she was glad he was finally arrested, saying, "It should've been done at the scene that night."