A Watchung man has been sentenced to life in prison for the 2015 fatal shooting of his former girlfriend, an East Orange teacher, authorities said.

Andre Higgs, 53, was sentenced Friday in Superior Court following his conviction for the murder of 27-year-old Latrena May, the Essex County Prosecutor's Office announced.

A jury found Higgs guilty on Dec. 23, 2025, of first-degree murder and weapons offenses, marking his second conviction in the case.

Prosecutors said Higgs shot and killed May on May 1, 2015, outside her East Orange home after she fled from him and flagged down a police officer for help. As an East Orange detective approached, Higgs fired multiple shots at May. The detective returned fire, striking Higgs in the legs.

Authorities said Higgs then barricaded himself inside the home, where the couple's 4-year-old daughter was sleeping.

Higgs was sentenced to life in prison. Under New Jersey's No Early Release Act, he must serve 85% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole. He also received an additional 20-year sentence on the weapons convictions.

Higgs was previously sentenced to life in prison in 2017, but the New Jersey Supreme Court overturned that conviction in 2023 and ordered a new trial, ruling that his attorneys should have been allowed access to the detective's internal affairs records and to question him about prior on-duty shootings, authorities said.