The Sheriff’s Office was called to a report of a disturbance on Saturday, January 20th at 10:29 PM at a house on Hicks Road just outside of Mountain Home.  The call involved a man who was said to be agitated.  The call came from a neighbor. When deputies arrived on scene at 10:39 PM, they discovered that the man who was reported to have been agitated had apparently shot himself inside the home at some point after the neighbor had called 9-1-1.  The man was unresponsive when deputies got there.  Emergency medical personnel were summoned to the residence.  The victim was transported to Baxter Regional Medical Center in Mountain Home, but did not survive the wound.  The victim was identified as 18 year old DALTON A. WATSON of the residence.  Other persons at the residence at the time told investigators they heard the gunshot, but did not witness the incident take place.

     The body of the decedent is being sent to the Arkansas State Medical Examiner’s Office in Little Rock for autopsy to confirm cause and manner of death.  The case will remain open pending autopsy results and any further investigation deemed necessary.

/s/ John F. Montgomery,
Baxter County Sheriff