A teacher was stabbed to death, allegedly by his former boyfriend, Thursday for not wanting to continue the relationship, North Miami, Fla., police said Monday.

Gregory Higgs is accused of repeatedly stabbing Charles Brown with a kitchen knife in the hallway of Brown’s apartment building as neighbors watched. Police suspect Higgs wanted an explanation for the breakup.

Higgs fled the scene and was later apprehended and charged with first-degree murder.

According to NBC Miami, police say that after Brown ended the relationship, which had lasted about seven years, Higgs began sending derogatory e-mails to Brown, Brown’s family, and Brown’s employer, the Miami-Dade County school board.