BEAUMONT, Texas — A Jefferson County jury has found a Beaumont man guilty in the 2019 fatal shooting of four men in the south end of the city.
Lively Stratton, who claimed he was acting in self-defense, was found guilty, Thursday afternoon of killing the four men in a south Beaumont apartment on September 29, 2019.
The guilty verdict came with an automatic life prison sentence.
"How could you do it? Take those lives like that? I thank God for justice not for my brother, but for everybody, all four of those families," the sister of one of the victims said during a victim impact statement after he was found guilty.
Killed in the shooting were Alvin Bernard, 32, Elijah Rideau, 33, Shannon Sutton, 23 and Bobby Wyatt, 39.
During opening statements on Tuesday, his defense attorney Gertz said that Stratton had acted in self-defense when he shot the four men.
Gertz claimed the four victims were armed and high on methamphetamine.
Molfino warned jurors during her opening statement Tuesday that body camera video of the four men lying on the floor, one struggling and crying for help, would shock jurors.
On Thursday afternoon Stratton took the stand testifying that he brought the loaded gun to the victim's apartment to retrieve his stolen property.
When he asked the four where his stolen property was he testified they reacted aggressively.
As Stratton walked toward a TV he recognized as his own one of the victims, Alvin Bellard, closed and locked the door he said during testimony.
Stratton claimed he felt "absolute fear" and when he turned to face him, Bellard was approaching him with a butterfly knife.
He also described feeling "trapped" in the room between the other men and the door when he started shooting.
Stratton testified he kept firing until the threat was neutralized. He did admit he didn't know if any of them had a gun.
Under cross-examination Thursday, Molfino asked Stratton when he had gotten the gun to which he replied he had only had it a few months and had never fired it before the day of the killings.
Back in September 2019 a Beaumont patrol officer said he heard shots being fired while patrolling in the 4100 block of Highland Avenue shortly after noon, according to a probable cause affidavit.
The officer asked Rideau who shot him. In what the officer described as a "dying declaration," Rideau said "Lively," according to court documents.
The families of the four men who were killed said all they have left now are memories.
Shannon Sutton was the youngest of the four victims. His family said he would have been 24 in October of 2019.
"He's not here. I'm just so hurt," Roslyn Sutton, mother of Shannon Sutton, previously told 12News.
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Family of Shannon Sutton said he had a then 3-year-old daughter and that his legacy will live on through her.
Kristopher Knighton, a childhood friend of Elijah Rideau, said he was a great friend and an even better father. Rideau had two sons.
"We learned a lot from each other, we have a lot of good memories. I really just hate to see he had to go because we had a lot to accomplish as fathers and as friends," Knighton previously told 12News
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.