JACKSONVILLE, Fla. -- Relatives of a man who was shot and killed while breaking into a home more than a decade ago recently settled a civil lawsuit they brought against the city.

Fifteen years ago, Jacksonville Sheriff's Office Detective Larry Branch was at home when he shot and killed two men who he said broke into his house.

One of the dead men, Greg Page, was the estranged husband of a woman staying at Branch's home.

The other man, a friend, was James Mabe. Since that shooting, Mabe's family sued the city, saying Branch violated Mabe's civil rights.

Mabe's family said Branch was not trained properly by the sheriff department to handle deadly force.

On Thursday, the city decided to pay Mabe's family $500,000 to settle that suit.

State attorney Harry Shorstein told Channel 4 the settlement was a good thing.

"The general council did a good job if they obtained that settlement," Shorstein said.

In 1992, Branch said he didn't know if the men were armed. He fatally shot Page, and Mabe took off running. Mabe was shot outside the house and shot again in his car. Branch testified he thought Mabe was going for a gun, but police never found a weapon on either man.

"The evidence was that he told the men they were under arrest when they burst into house and attacked him. Police officers in Jacksonville when they are off duty still respond to calls, so their theory was that his behavior was based on inadequate training and discipline in the police department," said city attorney Jon Phillips.

After the shooting deaths, a grand jury and an FBI investigation found that Branch acted properly and Branch was never charged with a crime.

Shorstein said that was a tough call.

"This was a case where there was a very serious question to whether or not the officer was going to be charged criminally," Shorstein said.

"The bottom line in this case is if they had gotten a verdict for a civil rights violation and held the city responsible for it, the verdict could have been pretty big," Phillips said.