LUMBERTON — An Elizabethtown man was sentenced to 51 to 71 months in prison on Monday for the shooting death of a bouncer at a Lumberton nightclub.

Jerome Richardson, 24, pled guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the shooting the death of 35-year-old Michael Chavis on March 3, 2007, according to Martha Duvall, the assistant district attorney who was the prosecutor. Richardson had faced a charge of first-degree murder.

He was sentenced by Superior Court Judge Greg Bell.

Duvall said that Richardson was offered the plea agreement because “some of the facts were in dispute.” The plea was arranged before the start of the trial.

Chavis was shot in the parking lot of the Players nightclub, which was located on Lackey Street, at about 2 a.m. after a fight broke out, according to Duvall. She said Chavis, who was also armed with a gun, was asking Richardson and several other people to leave when he was shot in the chest.

Police said that Richardson acted like he was leaving but turned around and fired toward two shots toward Chavis. Another bouncer grabbed Chavis’ gun and held Richardson at gunpoint until police arrived.

Duvall said that a weapon was found under a car in the parking lot but investigators were not able to lift fingerprints. Police who were responding to a separate incident involving a stolen car said they heard several gunshots at the time of Chavis’ death.

Duvall said witnesses did say that they saw Richardson with the gun that killed Chavis and they saw him drop it after the shooting.