A Pointe Coupee Parish grand jury on Friday declined to indict a 25-year-old Batchelor man who was facing a manslaughter charge for fatally shooting the man who had threatened to kill his fiancée's sister.

Mark Anthony Gaspard, 8328 La. 418, Batchelor, shot Mario Celestino in the head Feb. 15 in Innis outside the home of Gaspard's fiancée.

The shooting happened during a day in which Celestino had kidnapped at gunpoint the mother of his ex-girlfriend, who was the sister of Gaspard's fiancée.

Celestino was shot while running away from a sheriff's deputy.

"This is a good kid who was definitely acting in self defense," Gaspard's attorney, Cy D'Aquila said Friday. "The family is still grieving over the fact that this happened. It hurt my feelings to see he had to go through this."

Earlier on the day of the shooting, Celestino, 149 Cypress Cove, Youngsville, had kidnapped his ex-girlfriend's mother in Avoyelles Parish at gunpoint and demanded she take him to see his ex-girlfriend, who was staying with her sister in Innis.

A Pointe Coupee Sheriff's deputy was able to intercept Celestino before he made it to the home and started to apprehend the man. But as the deputy was about to handcuff him, Celestino broke free and took off running toward Gaspard's fiancée's home.

That's when authorities said Gaspard intervened, coming out of nowhere and delivered the fatal shot to Celestino.

D'Aquilla said Friday the deputy involved told investigators Gaspard was justified in killing Celestino given the fear the family was in at the time.

The deputy had been reaching for his gun to shoot Celestino himself when Gaspard intervened, D'Aquilla added.

"He said they had fear in their eyes and that they knew this guy was going to kill them," D'Aquilla said.

But Assistant District Attorney Tony Clayton responded that the grand jury's decision shouldn't be viewed by the public as a green light to become vigilantes.

"Gaspard, in my opinion, is no hero here. He's just lucky the facts were in his favor," Clayton said Friday. "People should stay in their lane and let police officers do their jobs."

Clayton said the grand jury went "back and forth" for hours deliberating the facts presented to them on Friday.

"I'm just glad they made the right decision," D'Aquilla said. "(Gaspard) was really scared for the officer. He just knew Celestino would shoot the officer and then there would be no one else left out there that day to protect them."