ATLANTA — A DeKalb County family says their prayers have been answered after police arrested the man accused of killing a father of three.
Atlanta police arrested Jermaine Harlow, 21, Sunday morning. Harlow had been on the run for more than two months after police say he shot and killed Keith Bell.
Channel 2′s Ashli Lincoln spoke with the victim’s family about Sunday’s arrest. The family says they are relieved and can now grieve.
“My heart dropped, and I was like, ‘Oh my God,’” said Bell’s sister. “The detective called and said they had apprehended him.”
Bell’s sister said she was terrified of retaliation from Harlow’s family and asked to not be identified.
“He was good, he loved his mother, he loved his father,” said Elizabeth Bell, Keith’s mother.
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Police said hard work from detectives led them to a Shell gas station on McDaniel Street and Whitehall, less than a mile away down the street from police headquarters.
Photos show Harlow carrying at least two weapons at the time of the arrest.
“They got him at a gas station, and immediately it just felt like I could take a deep breath,” Bell’s sister said.
Channel 2 reported that Bell was shot at least 14 times in the back in October at the Fairburn Townhouses in southwest Atlanta.
His family says Bell was telling Harlow to leave his home after Harlow got into an argument with Bell’s stepdaughter.
“The violence of it made it so, it made it much more hurtful to me, it hurt deep in my heart,” Elizabeth Bell said.
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In the months after the shooting, Harlow was spotted at numerous locations in southwest Atlanta and Midtown. Bell’s family said Harlow even threatened them while he was on the run.
Police said they were tipped off after someone saw Harlow at the gas station this week.
Bell’s family said while they’re happy about his arrest, the holidays have been extremely difficult for Bell’s wife and three children.
“It was like a piece of all of us is gone, and it’s like, what do you tell a child a fatherless child?” Bell’s sister said.
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“His family has lost somebody too,” Bell’s sister said about Harlow. “He’s going to jail and he’s never coming back home, but at least his momma can go see him. I have to visit my brother at a graveyard. It’s just messed up on both sides.”
Harlow was taken to the Fulton County Jail. He was wanted on murder charges, but his formal charges are pending.
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