A state grand jury late Thursday handed up an indictment charging New Orleans police officer Joshua Colclough with one count of manslaughter in the March 7 fatal shooting of Wendell Allen during a raid inside a Gentilly home. The indictment came a day after Colclough did not show up for his expected guilty plea on a count of negligent homicide. Sources said Colclough changed his mind the night before he was to plead. After the grand jury returned the indictment, Orleans Parish District Attorney Leon Cannizzaro's office indicated it would invoke a firearms sentencing provision that would subject Colclough to a minimum 20-year prison sentence if found guilty.

Had Colclough pleaded guilty to negligent homicide Wednesday, he would have faced a maximum of five years in prison.

Criminal District Court Judge Keva Landrum-Johnson set bond for Colclough at $300,000. Prosecutors had sought a $1 million bond. The judge also issued a warrant for Colclough's arrest.

According to an NOPD investigation, Colclough, a 4 1/2-year NOPD veteran, fired a single bullet at Allen's chest, killing him while police executed a search warrant related to a marijuana investigation at Allen's Prentiss Street home. Allen, 20, was unarmed, shirtless and wearing jeans and sneakers when shot. Five children were inside the home at the time.

Colclough's attorney, Pat Fanning, said he believed Cannizzaro's office had been seeking an indictment for second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

"Apparently (Cannizzaro) didn't get his way from the grand jury, which is of course encouraging for us," Fanning said.

Fanning said he was in discussions Thursday evening to coordinate Colclough's surrender. He said it was doubtful the officer could make the bond.

Fanning criticized Cannizzaro's use of the firearms sentencing provision, which sets a minimum 20-year sentence if a defendant discharges a firearm during the commission of a violent felony.

"Frankly, if they do that, that is an abuse of the statute," Fanning said. "The statute contemplates a criminal committing an intentional criminal act and choosing to use a firearm, as opposed to a police officer who not only carries a gun in the line of duty, but is required to as a condition of his employment."

Fanning said the move may be intended to press Colclough into reconsidering a negligent homicide plea.

New Orleans police Superintendent Ronal Serpas issued a statement late Thursday saying Colclough will be placed on emergency suspension without pay until the department's Public Integrity Bureau reviews his status.

"As I've said publicly many times, the loss of life is tragic and affects us all. Our investigators conducted a fair, thorough and transparent investigation into the death of Wendell Allen," Serpas said in the statement. "Once we had all the facts available to us, we turned them over to the District Attorney's Office."

Serpas said officers later found drug paraphernalia and 138 grams of marijuana -- about 4.5 ounces -- inside the residence. Two of the men in the home, David Allen and Brandon Boles, now face marijuana possession charges from the raid.

Fanning said Colclough made a rapid-fire decision after officers had secured the downstairs of the house. He said officers had been inside for several minutes.

"When you serve a search warrant not knowing what's behind that door, you're going in, you place yourself in harm's way. That's what officer Colclough did," Fanning said.

"Then someone steps out on him and startles him and starts raising his hand in his direction. He had to decide in a split second, do I wait to decide if he has a gun in his hand and he shoots me? Or can I assume if he steps out on me, that it was reasonable to fear the guy had a gun and was going to shoot him?"

No court dates have been set in the case. An attorney for Allen's family could not be reached for comment late Thursday.