FRANKLINTON — Two 24-year-old men were sentenced to mandatory life imprisonment without the possibility of parole Tuesday following their convictions in the 2021 fatal shooting of a man in Bogalusa.

Tauj Taplin, of Amite, and Quardaviaon White, of McComb, Mississippi, received their sentences from District Judge Alan A. Zaunbrecher in Washington Parish court. A jury found both men guilty of second-degree murder on Oct. 2 following a five-day trial.

The convictions stem from a June 7, 2021, shooting at an apartment complex on Union Square in Bogalusa. Officers responding to the scene found a victim suffering from multiple gunshot wounds. He was rushed to Our Lady of Angels Hospital, where he was later pronounced dead.

Investigators determined ongoing online threats between local rap music figures fueled the shooting. Authorities identified Taplin as the gunman and White as the getaway driver.

Three days after the killing, law enforcement tracked both men to Texas. On June 10, 2021, deputies with the Chambers County Sheriff’s Office and Louisiana State Police apprehended Taplin and White following a traffic stop and brief attempt to flee.

Search warrants executed after the arrests led to the recovery of two handguns—including one reported stolen out of Baton Rouge. At trial, prosecutors presented cell phone and digital location data that definitively placed both defendants at the crime scene.

“While no sentence can undo the tragic loss of a loved one, today's finality ensures that these two individuals will spend the rest of their natural lives behind bars for a senseless act of violence driven by a mindless online rivalry,” said District Attorney J. Collin Sims.