A Vicksburg man was shot and killed early Sunday by a masked man who forced open the door of his Letitia Street home, police said.

Kennado Caples, 26, 2708 Letitia St., was in the home he shared with his girlfriend, Kathryn Blue, 26. At about 3:25 a.m. a man wearing a rag across his face and a cap entered and opened fire with a handgun, said Capt. Mark Culbertson, chief of detectives for the Vicksburg Police Department.

The two men struggled before Caples was killed, and some shots were fired at close range, Culbertson said.

“We know he was struck in the neck,” Culbertson said, adding that an autopsy was scheduled for this afternoon.

After the man who shot Caples entered the home, Blue ran to the back of the house, Culbertson said. The suspect fled on foot, he added.

“Officers talked to people in the area to see if they heard or saw anything,” Culbertson said, adding that the case remains under investigation. “We’re asking anyone who saw, heard or knows anything to call us.”

Some rounds from a gun were recovered from the scene, Culbertson said.

Police had not established a motive in the case, Culbertson said.

No one else lived in the home, and police had no reason to believe anyone else was with the suspect when the shooting happened, Culbertson added.

The killing was the first reported in Vicksburg this year; three were recorded in the city in 2004.