Man gets 40 years in prison in killing of CT barber hailed a hero for protecting customers

A man has been sentenced to 40 years in prison in the killing of a Bridgeport barber who was hailed a hero for dying while trying to protect his customers in 2017.

Jordan Hinton, 35, of Bridgeport faced sentencing last week in the Fairfield Judicial District Courthouse in connection with the fatal shooting of 32-year-old Deon Rodney, Division of Criminal Justice officials said Monday.

Following a jury trial, Hinton was found guilty in May of first-degree manslaughter with a firearm, felony murder, first-degree attempted robbery, criminal possession of a firearm and carrying a pistol without a permit.

Judicial officials said Hinton on Oct. 14, 2017, burst into the Just Right Cutz Barbershop on Park Avenue in Bridgeport and fired a shot from a semiautomatic handgun.

Rodney leaped in front of customers, including children, to protect them and tackled Hinton, according to judicial officials.

Rodney was struck by gunfire during the fight and later died at an area hospital, judicial officials said.

Hinton was arrested about a year after the killing in Troy, New York, and charged as a fugitive before being extradited back to Connecticut.