A white man who shot three young black men who had been trying to evacuate in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina died just days after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for the crimes, the authorities said Wednesday.

The man, Roland J. Bourgeois Jr., 56, died Feb. 19 — five days after his sentencing — at a jail in Louisiana while he was in the custody of the United States Marshals Service, Walter Martin, a supervisory deputy, said. Mr. Bourgeois had been awaiting a transfer to a federal prison.

The Plaquemines Parish Sheriff’s Office is handling the death investigation, Mr. Martin added. The cause of death was not immediately clear, but Mr. Martin said the authorities did not suspect foul play.

Federal prosecutors had cited Mr. Bourgeois’s physical and mental health as one reason his court proceedings dragged on for nearly nine years after he was initially indicted. During that time, Mr. Bourgeois was repeatedly found incompetent to stand trial. He was eventually declared competent in 2018.

Shortly after the hurricane ravaged New Orleans in 2005, Mr. Bourgeois fired a shotgun at the three men because they were black and had entered the neighborhood in which he lived, the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Louisiana had said. The men, who were all injured in the shooting, had been trying to reach a ferry landing that state and federal agencies were using as an evacuation site.

In 2010, federal prosecutors charged Mr. Bourgeois with five felony counts, and the maximum penalty was life in prison. Prosecutors later dismissed the original indictment as part of a plea agreement, and in October, Mr. Bourgeois pleaded guilty to two counts: interference with the rights of the men he targeted and use of a firearm during a violent crime.

On Feb. 14, he was sentenced to five years in prison on each of the two counts. He was also sentenced to five years of supervised release.

Julia Jacobs contributed reporting.

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