A Natchez resident was shot and killed Tuesday after an argument, Sheriff Ronny Brown said.

Anthony “Tony” Eugene Dawson, 59, allegedly shot and killed William “Billy” Durwood Turner, 26, at Turner’s house Tuesday evening.

Turner reportedly lived next door to Dawson with Dawson’s daughter, Tonya Dawson, for eight years, and the couple had three children.

An argument between Turner and Dawson reportedly ensued at the couple’s house, and at about 5:45 p.m., Dawson walked to his house, got a gun, and walked back to the couple’s house. Turner walked into the front yard, and Dawson shot him, Brown said.

Dawson then reportedly got into his car and drove away. Sheriff’s deputies searched the county roads for him and found him when he drove back to his own house.

Deputies took Dawson into custody at that time, and he is being held at the Adams County Jail without charge.

“We can hold anybody for 72 hours,” Brown said. “He’s so intoxicated we were not able to talk to him.”

Brown said he would wait to talk to the district attorney before his office charged Dawson with murder.

“I don’t want to charge him with murder if the attorney general says it was self-defense or aggravated assault,” Brown said. “We’re just being safe rather than sorry.”

Adams County Coroner James Lee said Turner was apparently shot in the abdomen with what appeared to be a small shotgun and died on the scene.

“When I got there, most of the ambulances and law enforcement personnel were there, along with (Turner’s) fiancé,” Lee said. “There was only one wound to the abdomen, and there were no exit wounds.”

Because Turner’s death is being treated as a homicide, officials will have to do an autopsy, Lee said.

“An autopsy will be done at the Mississippi Crime Lab (in Jackson today),” he said.

Lee said he was saddened by the series of events.

“What I got from the whole incident was that this may just have been misinterpreted at the home, as best as I can understand it,” he said. “I’m just mad at killings like these. They’re all senseless to me. I wish there was something we could do to intervene in these type of things. It was an unfortunate incident, and nobody wins.”