Inset left: Andre Higgs (Essex County Prosecutor's Office). Inset right: Latrena May (Obituary). Background: The street where Higgs shot and killed May in East Orange, N.J. (Google Maps).
A New Jersey man will spend the rest of his life behind bars for shooting and killing his ex-girlfriend outside of her own home while she flagged down a police officer for help.
In late December 2025, 53-year-old Andre Higgs, was convicted by a jury of his peers in Essex County for the 2015 murder of 27-year-old Latrena May, a longtime teacher at Pride Academy Charter School in East Orange. The victim and the killer had previously been in a relationship.
On Friday, the defendant was sentenced to life in prison on the murder charge, a 75-year sentence in the Garden State. He was additionally sentenced to 20 years in prison for related weapons charges.
The underlying incident occurred late on the night of May 1, 2015, following an argument between Higgs and May outside the woman's home on Tremont Avenue in East Orange – a suburb of New York City.
Ultimately, the woman's death was a tragic matter of rage, domestic violence, and devastating timing.
"The shooting occurred after May ran from her home to escape an attack by Higgs and flagged down a police vehicle," prosecutors explained in a press release. "As East Orange Detective Kemon Lee exited his vehicle and approached, Higgs fired multiple shots at May."
The detective returned fire and hit the killer in the legs. Then, Higgs retreated back into May's house where the victim's 4-year-old daughter was still asleep. After barricading himself inside the residence, he was eventually arrested.
Higgs was originally sentenced to life in prison in 2017 following a trial and conviction for May's murder. But that sentence was overturned by the New Jersey Supreme Court in 2023, which granted him a new trial.
In the ruling, the justices found that defense attorneys should have been granted access to Lee's "internal affairs file, which included prior incidents of the officer firing his weapon while on duty" and should have been able to question the detective about those prior incidents.
But a second trial did not result in a materially different outcome.
Higgs was found guilty of murder in the first degree, second-degree unlawful possession of a handgun, first-degree unlawful possession of a handgun by a person who has previously been convicted of a crime under the No Early Release Act, and second-degree certain persons not to have weapons.
"This second conviction for murder for Andre Higgs was possible only because of the brave witnesses who once again came forward to testify about the defendant's callous actions," prosecutor Justin Edwab said. "As we said in 2017 and repeat today, Detective Kemon Lee was a hero that day for responding to Latrena May and attempting to save her from the grip of her abuser."
Under a recently passed New Jersey law, Higgs must serve 85 percent of his sentence before he is eligible for release – which equates to just shy of 64 years on the murder conviction alone.
"While no sentence can bring back Latrena May, we hope that knowing Higgs will spend the rest of his life in prison provides the May family with some measure of peace and serves as a solemn acknowledgment of their profound loss," Edwab added in comments to NJ.com.
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