A Lafayette jury on Friday found Tavis Jenkins guilty of negligent homicide in a 2015 shooting that resulted in the deaths of 17-year-old Antonio Means and 23-year-old Lindon Batiste. However, the jury found Jenkins not guilty of second degree murder and attempted second degree murder.

Jenkins was arrested in connection with the January 2016 shooting at a Congress Street apartment.

According to the Lafayette Police Department, Jenkins entered an apartment where his ex-girlfriend, Breanna Roy, and one of his friends, Means, lived. In his testimony, Jenkins said he wanted to get some of his stuff back before he left the house after temporarily living there with Roy.

According to Jenkins’ testimony, Roy behaved strangely on the day of the shooting and tried to keep Jenkins out of his bedroom where his belongings were. Jenkins forced his way through the door anyway, and when he opened it, he was confronted by Batiste, who ordered him to leave the apartment.

Batiste and Jenkins had firearms, according to Alfred Boustany III, Jenkins’ lawyer. In her testimony, Roy said that Batiste, whom she had met the previous week, carried a gun because he needed protection from people who disliked him. Jenkins fired his gun after being shot first, Boustany said.

Police said Jenkins shot Means and Batiste after Batiste forced Jenkins to leave.

In April 2015, a grand jury indicted Jenkins on two counts of second-degree murder in the deaths of Means and Batiste and one count of attempted second-degree murder of Roy, according to court documents. But on Friday, a jury unanimously found Jenkins not guilty of second-degree murder of Batiste and not guilty of attempted second-degree murder of Roy. The jury also found Jenkins guilty of a lesser charge of negligent homicide related to Means’ death.

The 15th Judicial District Attorney’s Office did not respond to questions related to the case Monday afternoon.

Boustany said Jenkins would return home to Alexandria, where his mother lives, from the Lafayette Parish Correction Center, where he has been held since 2016, by the end of this week.

“What struck us the most was that this young man could have gone to prison for the rest of his life if he had been convicted, and it would have been for a crime he did not commit. “Bustany said.

“We have no problem with the verdict. What we can say is that the jury found that this man had committed negligent homicide, meaning he overreacted to a perilous situation and made a mistake.

A negligent homicide conviction carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison and a maximum fine of $5,000. Jenkins has yet to be convicted, but has been incarcerated since 2015 awaiting trial.