BATON ROUGE - A 55-year-old man was arrested Wednesday on a murder charge nearly three years after police say he shot his ex-girlfriend in the neck.

Lydia Francis was 59 when she was shot in the neck after answering the door at her home at 10323 Barbara St. on June 15, 2023. Her 7-year-old grandson saw the shooting, police records show.

Francis died more than five months later, but police records show that she was able to tell investigators who shot her. She identified ex-boyfriend Toledo Gettridge, police said.

Police records show that after the shooting, Gettridge is believed to have called Francis and left a message saying that he had already been in jail for 20 years and would get into a shootout with whoever tried to take him back.

Gettridge was booked into Parish Prison on first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder and illegal use of a weapon.