CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) -
A 28 year old man charged with killing two people, including his ex-girlfriend, is being held without bond.
Police say Jacquece Forrest shot and killed Jennifer Smith and her friend, Luc Gonzalez.
Relatives of both victims met for the first time after Forrest's court appearance. They hugged each other, cried, and offered condolences. They say they went to court to see Forrest in person.
"I wanted him to see me - face to face - and my family as well, and see our pain and feel our pain", says LaToya McMiller.
McMiller says Smith, her 25 year old cousin, had a great personality and "her spirit was always uplifted".
She says she wanted to see if Forrest had any remorse. McMiller says "as I sat there in that courtroom, tears began to roll down my face. I got angry. And he seen me. He doesn't even know me but he seen me and he knows I'm here for Jennifer", McMiller says.
During his court appearance, Forrest barely whispered when the Judge spoke to him. He held his head down.
"What I got from that is maybe now he's thinking he did a stupid thing - but see what's done is done - and can't be taken back. You can't bring her back, you can't bring her friend back. It's done. No reason now to drop your head and be in shame", says McMiller
Officers in the North Tryon Division first responded to the home on Malibu Drive in east Charlotte around 1 a.m. Tuesday when Smith said she believed her ex-boyfriend was in the wooded area behind her home. Officers searched, but did not find the man.
"She had a feeling that he was coming, that he was close," said Smith's friend Nekia Owens. "But unfortunately they left, and he came in the house."
Two hours later, officers in the Hickory Grove Division pulled over a speeding vehicle at Harris Boulevard and Keyway Boulevard. During the traffic stop, the driver took off running. Officers caught up with him at a nearby apartment and arrested him. It was Forrest. He was taken to CMC University for medical treatment. During the course of treatment, officers say he told hospital staff he had shot his girlfriend.
North Tryon Division officers returned to the home in the 4900 block of Malibu Drive. They found the bodies of Smith and Gonzalez.
Relatives say Gonzalez was at Smith's place because she told him about Forrest and he was there to protect her.
A WBTV crew at the scene learned a child was also in the home, but was not hurt.
Smith's friend Kisha Poage said Smith had broken up with Forrest, who is the father of her two-year-old boy. Neighbors told WBTV Forrest wouldn't leave Smith alone and had broken into the home before.
Smith's relatives say Forrest was "abusive to her, very mean - verbally and physically. And she was scared of him." They said she attempted to get a protective order but they don't know what happened with it. WBTV checked and couldn't find any protective orders regarding Smith and Forrest.
A background check shows Forrest was arrested in 2010 for drugs, communicating threats, assault on a female, and breaking & entering. He was arrested again in September of 2012 for nonsupport of a child and assault on a female.
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