NATCHEZ — Terrance T. Shelvy Jr., 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder on Tuesday in the Jan. 21, 2021, killing of Mikel Chatman.

Sixth District Circuit Judge Debra Blackwell sentenced Shelvy to 30 years in prison.

Sixth Circuit District Attorney Tim Cotton asked that Shelvy be immediately transported to the custody of the Mississippi Department of Corrections. Blackwell agreed.

Shelvy was arrested on Jan. 21, 2021, by officers from the Natchez Police Department after a fight turned deadly at the Williams Apartments in the 9300 block of Aldrich Street.

Former Natchez Police Chief Joseph Daughtry said at the time that his officers had responded to a call about two juveniles fighting at the apartments. While making their way to the scene, Daughtry said the call was escalated to “shots fired.”

When officers arrived, they found Mikel Chatman, 31, lying on his back with a gunshot wound.

Chatman was airlifted to a Jackson hospital and later died of his wounds.

NPD investigators believe Chatman’s son and Shelvy, who was 17 at the time, were fighting and that Mikel Chatman attempted to break up the fight when he was shot.

Shelvy was arrested and charged as an adult. He was not given a bond at the time of his arrest. However, at some point, he was released, only to be arrested again on Dec. 1, 2021, on charges of armed robbery in Jefferson County of an Exxon service station in Fayette.

Apparently Shelvy remained out on some kind of bond and was arrested again on May 5 of this year by the Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office on a charge of second-degree battery.