DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A family says they are resting easier now after police arrested a man accused of murdering a pregnant mother.
Raesha Heard, 31, was gunned down in her parent’s driveway in front of her son. DeKalb County police say they arrested Justin Rene Lewis in connection with her death.
The family told Channel 2′s Tom Jones that Lewis’ arrest has brought them a sense of safety and peace.
“We all slept well,” sister Rhonda Heard Dickens said.
Police had been searching for Lewis since officers say a gunman shot the pregnant mother of two in her parent’s driveway on Kelley Chapel Road on Oct. 11. Heard’s 9-year-old son saw his mother get shot seven times.
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Heard’s sister says no one felt safe with Lewis being free.
“I’m just happy that Justin is captured. Because we don’t want anybody else to experience this. No other family,” Dickens said.
The family says Heard had broken up with Lewis, a rapper who goes by the name Mad Muzik Cali, because he was abusive.
“This is a person who has mistreated her for years,” Dickens said.
They say after the shooting, Lewis was on social media, going live as if nothing had happened.
“I actually posted that he was wanted and we were going to find him and he liked it. He liked the status,” niece Rastarja Heard recalled.
DeKalb police say officers located Lewis in Forest Park and arrested him.
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“I’m gonna really miss my little sister,” brother Ralph Heard Jr. said as he recalled her beautiful personality.
Heard’s older sister says she treated everyone well.
“And to know she kind of went through an experience where she wasn’t treated well, it’s hurtful, it’s very hurtful,” Dickens said.
The family says domestic violence is real and people should recognize the signs early and get away before you get too attached.
Lewis is currently being held in the DeKalb County Jail on a charge of malice murder.
Heard will be laid to rest on Monday.
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