LAUDERHILL, Fla. – The FBI on Thursday announced the arrest of a fugitive involved in a murder in Broward County over 20 years ago.
Investigators say in 2002, Kareem Jobbar Lightbourne fatally shot a man and then kidnapped his ex-girlfriend and their son, who was 2 years old at the time, at gunpoint.
Lightbourne later fled Florida.
The FBI discovered Lightbourne, now 47, was hiding in the Dominican Republic, where he was detained by authorities and then expelled to the United States for immigration violations.
He has since been taken to the Broward Sheriff’s Office Main Jail.
According to police, the victim was just 23 years old at the time. He was a father of three small children, as well as a big brother and a son.
On Thursday, Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos spoke with his parents, who just got the news that their son’s alleged killer has been arrested.
“I remember my son everyday. I have his picture put up in my room,” the victim’s father, Japheth Ennis, said.
“He always come and he always hug, and he was a loving child to me,” the victim’s mother, Navlette Williams, added.
The parents of Kirk Ennis remember their son as if they’d just seen him, but it has been nearly 22 years since his mother has felt her son’s warm embrace and since his father has looked into the eyes of his firstborn son.
“I said, ‘Why do I feel this way? I don’t feel too good. Something is wrong,’” Navlette Williams said.
Williams described what she felt the moment her son was killed. She said she instantly knew something wasn’t right.
On Thursday, she showed Ramos pictures of the young man who loved music and was a father of three children and a standout athlete.
“He was a great runner -- a great, great runner,” Japheth Ennis said.
Investigators said Kirk Ennis was murdered while with his girlfriend in a Lauderhill apartment near Northwest 21st Street and 41st Avenue back in December of 2002.
Detectives said it was Lightbourne -- then just 26 years old -- who shot and killed Kirk Ennis before kidnapping his girlfriend and her then-2-year-old son.
While she and her son were able to get away, Lightbourne fled the country, police said.
But after more than 20 years on the run, he was found by the FBI in the Dominican Republic. A picture shows the moments an agent awaited for his arrival back in Florida where he is now behind bars, giving the victim’s family some closure after years of hoping their son’s killer would be caught.
“He has to pay the price. If there is a price to pay, he has to pay the price,” Navlette Williams said.
Lightbourne appeared before a judge Thursday, but his hearing was reset for Friday so he can have a private attorney present.
He now faces charges that include first-degree murder and armed kidnapping.