Arrest Made in the Fatal Shooting of an Arkansas Mother and Her 8-Year-Old Son

Shunterris Salter/ Facebook

Police have arrested a man for the shooting and killing of a Black woman and her eight-year-old son.

Twenty-four-year-old Malcolm Ester has been charged with two counts of capital murder of Shunterris Salter, 32, and Jamichael Petty, 8, both of Little Rock.

Patrick Brown, a longtime friend of Salter, is still in a state of disbelief.

"It didn't seem real to me so I just wanted to come over, I was just over here about a couple of weeks ago," he told ABC7. "Last time I was over here it was joking, laughing, playing, right outside her house, I just came over here to reminisce a little bit," He said. "All I see is her face and hear her voice, she was so goofy."

While the murder of his friend hit hard enough, Brown is shocked by the callous way Ester also struck down her child.

"It's different when somebody dies of natural causes, you know, I'd feel the same way, but when they die in vain because somebody took their life...I don't see how someone can just take somebody's life, plus a child, a harmless child,' he said.

Brown revealed that while Ester and Salter may have initially started dating, Salter appeared to be looking to strike out on her own without him. Salter told Brown that she wanted to get her own place.

Her family are now desperately seeking answers and justice.

"I don't find a justifiable explanation as to why you said I'm going to get this gun and kill them," Shunterri's aunt, Emily Atkinson, told ArkLaTex. "I'm angry because it was my niece and my nephew. I'm angry because he chose that they should leave. Heaven gained a good angel."

Ester confessed to the homicides and is in custody at the Pulaski County Regional Detention Facility.

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