20-year-old held without bail in Brighton double homicide

BOSTON — More than two dozen grieving family members filled a Suffolk Superior court room Monday morning to see the man accused of killing their loved ones finally brought to justice.

Nicholas Antoine, 20, didn't show his face in court, but pleaded not guilty to six charges against him for the shooting deaths of Wilfred Peters and Jeffrey Montague in Brighton on June 30.

Prosecutors say Antoine was with a group of people, including the victims, early that morning and had been asked to leave. The Suffolk County District Attorney's Office claims that's when he went to his car, got a gun, and shot the two men.

"Both men were fatally shot more than once, both were pronounced on scene," Assistant District Attorney Julie Higgins said in court.

Antoine was indicted over the summer and finally apprehended in mid December in Georgia.

"Eyewitness testimony, video, as well as the defendant's own prints on the scene put the defendant as the shooter," Higgins continued.

PREVIOUS: Police identify victims in fatal shooting in Brighton

The two men were shot at the corner of Faneuil and Brackett Streets. Boston 25 News spoke with family members of Jeffrey Montague after the court hearing Monday. They told us he was an advocate of always doing the right thing, and had never been in legal trouble.

"He worked various jobs, just a nice human being," the victim's cousin, Darryl Malden said. "He loved to travel, had a kind heart."

Montague was a METCO graduate of Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School and had recently moved to Cambridge. Malden says his family didn't know the other victim's family before the shooting, but said the two have gotten close in the months since.

"We had the chance to meet one another, support one another, because this process is one we will be going through together," Malden said.

Antoine was ordered held without bail and is due back in court for a pretrial hearing in January.

MORE: Victim's mother mourns as suspect remains on loose

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