New York Daily News

Man nabbed in shooting slay of wife

- BY JOHN ANNESE AND THOMAS TRACY

A Staten Island man has been charged with gunning down his wife inside the couple’s home as their two teenage sons slept in another room, cops said.

Kevin Smith, 40, was charged Saturday with murder and weapons possession for allegedly fatally shooting Nikia Webster, 38, in the head inside their South Ave. home near Arlington Place in Mariners Harbor about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

When police arrived at the scene, Smith was nowhere to be found. The couple’s two teens were home, but did not witness the shooting.

The husband from hell was arrested outside his lawyer’s Brooklyn office Thursday afternoon, Webster’s relatives said. His lawyer was in the process of brokering a surrender when Smith was taken into custody.

The murder weapon was still on him, along with another unregister­ed firearm, according to court documents.

A Staten Island Criminal Court judge ordered Smith held without bail at a brief arraignmen­t Saturday.

The slain woman’s family told the Daily News on Thursday they saw no signs of strife in Webster’s seven-year marriage to Smith.

“They were a happy couple. When I saw them on Sunday they were fine — they were happy, we were all happy,” Webster’s grandmothe­r, Alice Webster, 84, said. “We went to her mother’s grave. We sang, we read the Bible, we came back and had dinner. Everything was fine.

“I don’t know why they had a gun in the house. How can they have a gun in the house and two young kids? He wasn’t a violent guy, not that I know of. He was always nice to me,” said the grandmothe­r.

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