NATCHEZ &045; What Natchez police are calling the city’s first homicide this year took place Saturday evening at a home on North Canal Street as the result on an ongoing dispute.

Nyasauna &uot;Nick&uot; Bailey, 25, of 347 Old Washington Road, allegedly drove to 306 N. Canal St. and shot Corey Sewell, 25, of 35-B Pinemount Road, once in the abdomen with a handgun.

&uot;Apparently, this was the result of a dispute between the two that had been ongoing for a couple of months,&uot; said Police Chief Mike Mullins.

However, the cause of the incident was still under investigation as of Saturday night.

The shooting took place in front of several witnesses, Mullins said.

Bailey was pronounced dead later Saturday evening at Natchez Regional Medical Center.

After the shooting, Bailey drove off but was spotted driving along Liberty Road by a Mississippi Department of Corrections employee.

The employee began trailing Bailey’s vehicle and alerted Natchez police, who stopped the car at Old Pond and Liberty roads and arrested him on a murder charge.

Bailey was being held at the Natchez City Jail without bond as of Saturday night.

Natchez’s last homicide happened in late September, when 78-year-old Charlie Tolbert was found dead in his Pogo Street home after apparently being beaten to death with a blunt object.