DA Collin Sims reports that on August 16, 2024, a St. Tammany Parish jury deliberated for approximately 4 hours before finding 25 YO Brian Montrell Taylor of Slidell guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of 22 YO Zakary Stewart.
Assistant District Attorneys Jay Adair and Taylor Nicholson prosecuted the case. Judge Scott Gardner presided over the five-day trial. Detective Scott O’Shaughnessy headed the investigation for the Slidell Police Department.
Taylor and Stewart were co-workers at a Hyundai auto dealership in Slidell. During September, 2022, the two began feuding after Taylor sent Stewart’s girlfriend several unwelcomed text messages. On the afternoon of September 16, 2022, while both men were at work, tempers flared between the two and a physical altercation erupted outside one of the dealership’s service bays. A surveillance camera at a business across the street captured portions of the encounter. Punches were thrown by both men. Co-workers intervened and separated the two combatants. As a manager steered Stewart away from Taylor, Taylor ran into the service bay and emerged holding a handgun. While Taylor held the gun by his side, the two men moved toward each other and resumed fighting. During the scuffle, Taylor aimed the gun at Stewart’s chest and discharged the weapon.
Judge Gardner set Taylor’s sentencing for September 4, 2024. Manslaughter carries a sentence of up to forty (40) years in prison. Because Taylor discharged a firearm during the commission of a “violent felony”, he faces a mandatory minimum of twenty (20) years in prison.
