A New York community is grieving after a cherished nurse was fatally shot by her husband, who then killed himself, in what authorities have described as a murder-suicide inside the couple’s apartment.
Gabrielle Forman, 30, was killed Tuesday afternoon by her husband, 37-year-old Jadet Forman, in their second-floor apartment at the Lofts at Harmony Mills in Cohoes, near Albany, according to News10.
The violence erupted shortly after Jadet entered the room and took Gabrielle’s phone while she was on a FaceTime call with her mother, her cousin told WRGB News.
At a press conference Wednesday, Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler confirmed the deadly incident was being investigated as a murder-suicide. “We can confirm that this was a murder-suicide. It’s clear that the husband shot his wife before turning the gun on himself,” he said.
Gabrielle’s cousin said the couple had been married for just two years and were in the middle of divorce proceedings at the time of the shooting.
Loved ones struggled to comprehend the sudden loss. “We just can’t believe she’s gone. She was just here. Just hours ago, she was just here,” Gabrielle’s godmother, Angelia Major, told News10. “There is no explanation for it,” she added. “We can’t even make sense of it.”
Her father, Owen Sterling, remembered Gabrielle as “beautiful, smart, loving and caring,” saying her commitment to helping others left a lasting mark on everyone who knew her.
“She’s just a beautiful soul,” Sterling told the outlet. “Cannot ask for a better daughter.”
Gabrielle Forman, 30, was gunned down by her husband, Jadet Forman, 37, inside their second-floor apartment at the Lofts at Harmony Mills in Cohoes Tuesday afternoon. He turned the gun on himself
The killing allegedly unfolded just minutes after Jadet stormed into the room and grabbed Gabrielle’s phone as she was on a FaceTime call with her mother, her cousin told WRGB
The deadly confrontation began late Tuesday morning, just hours after Gabrielle returned home from Georgia, where she had been celebrating her mother’s birthday and her sister’s start to college.
She was reportedly speaking to her mother on FaceTime when Jadet allegedly came into the room and took her phone, abruptly ending the call as her mother watched from the other end.
Police said no gunshots were heard during the call, but Gabrielle’s mother became concerned and asked her brother to go to the apartment to check on her.
As her brother approached the home around 11am, gunshots rang out from inside, prompting several 911 calls to Cohoes authorities.
Waldin said officers arrived shortly after the calls but had to pause before entering the apartment to assess that the situation was safe. Gabrielle’s family, however, criticized the move.
‘The reason why there is a delay is that we don’t know what the situation is, and you don’t rush in. That’s not because the officers were afraid to go in or anything like that. It’s because you may have a hostage situation,’ the chief said.
‘If you just go through and barrel through a door without trying to reach out and see if there’s someone in there that you can speak to, or you can assess the situation better, that’s dangerous,’ he added.
‘It’s dangerous to the people that are inside that building, and we cannot risk causing a tragedy to take place under those circumstances.’
The couple, married for only two years, were allegedly in the midst of divorce proceedings (pictured: Jadet)
The police chief said the couple was shot so fatally that even if authorities had made it inside the apartment hours earlier, they still would not have survived
Authorities finally entered the apartment five hours later, where they found both spouses dead in what they determined was a murder-suicide.
During Wednesday’s press conference, the chief said the couple was shot so fatally that even if they had made it inside the apartment hours earlier, they still would not have survived.
‘The fact of the matter is, in this case, I mean, both subjects were deceased before the police even received the first phone call,’ Mayor Keeler echoed.
Police noted that the couple had no recorded history of domestic violence and that officers had never been called to their home.
But Gabrielle’s cousin told WRGB that her estranged husband was known to be aggressive, had a temper and would throw things, although she said he never physically hit her.
Jadet allegedly used a so-called ‘ghost gun’ in the killing – a privately made firearm without a serial number, making it difficult for authorities to trace.
‘It can be manufactured by putting together parts that you order through the mail and combine it and create yourself,’ Waldin said.
Gabrielle worked as a nurse in Saratoga while pursuing her dream of becoming a nurse practitioner and eventually opening her own clinic. Her father said she was ‘really’ loved by her colleagues at work.
‘They spoke highly of her and they even would go as far as to say, “I wish everyone in this building would be like her,”‘ he told News10.
Her godmother also remembered her as a woman who loved to travel and experience the world for herself.
‘She’s very photogenic,’ she told the outlet. ‘No matter where she went, whether it was out for dinner or whether she went to Dubai and rode the camels, that was her. She captured every single moment of her life.’
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can get help by calling the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233).
All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
The New York State Domestic Violence Hotline is also available. Call 800-942-6906 or text 844-997-2121.
