Upstate N.Y. nurse killed with ghost gun in murder-suicide

A 30-year-old Cohoes, New York, nurse was shot and killed by her estranged husband Tuesday morning, just hours after she returned home from a family reunion in Georgia, according to police and relatives.

Gabrielle Forman was fatally shot around 11 a.m. by 37-year-old Jadet Forman, with whom relatives and police said she was going through a divorce, inside their second-floor apartment at The Lofts at Harmony Mills, before he turned the gun on himself. Officers did not enter the apartment and discover the bodies until roughly 4:30 p.m., five hours later, after determining it was safe to do so.

An autopsy conducted Wednesday confirmed that Jadet Forman shot and killed his wife before turning the gun on himself, according to Cohoes officials. Cohoes Mayor Bill Keeler called it a clear-cut case, saying both were dead before officers arrived on scene.

Ms. Forman had returned home only hours earlier from a trip to Georgia, where she celebrated her mother’s birthday and her sister’s departure for college, according to her family. Her godmother, Angelia Major, said the family is still struggling to process the loss, telling NEWS10, “We just can’t believe she’s gone. She was just here.”

Police said Ms. Forman was on a video call with her mother when the call was abruptly cut off; relatives told WRGB that her husband entered the room, took the phone from her and ended the call. Her mother, unable to reach her afterward, asked Ms. Forman’s brother to check on his sister — and police said he heard gunfire as he approached the apartment, at which point he called 911.

Cohoes Police Chief Todd Waldin said the weapon was an unregistered so-called ghost gun, assembled from mail-order parts rather than purchased through a licensed dealer. “The firearm would be illegal for anyone to own because it does not have a serial number on it,” Chief Waldin said at a Wednesday press conference, adding that such weapons “can be manufactured by putting together parts that you order through the mail and combine it and create yourself.” Police declined to say where Jadet Forman obtained the gun.

The couple had lived together in the apartment since December 2022, and Jadet Forman had no prior criminal history in New York or any other state, Chief Waldin said. There had been no previous police calls or management complaints regarding domestic incidents between the two. A cousin of Ms. Forman’s told WRGB that the husband had a temper and would throw things, though she said he had never struck his wife.

Officers responding to the initial 911 calls did not enter the apartment for roughly five hours, a delay Chief Waldin defended as necessary given the uncertainty of the situation. “It’s dangerous to the people that are inside that building, and we cannot risk causing a tragedy to take place under those circumstances,” he said, according to WRGB.

Ms. Forman worked as a nurse at a hospital in Saratoga and, according to relatives, was pursuing further training to become a nurse practitioner with plans to eventually open her own clinic. Her father, Owen Sterling, described his daughter as “beautiful, smart, loving, caring,” telling NEWS10, “She’s just a beautiful soul. Cannot ask for a better daughter.”

If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, help is available through the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or the New York State Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-942-6906.