A Vicksburg teen police say shot and killed a man in Kings was arraigned Monday on a manslaughter indictment.

James Morris, 16, 1655 Standard Hill Road, was arrested July 23 after Greg Jones, 29, 105 Quinola Lane, was killed in front of an apartment complex off North Washington Street.

Morris was charged with murder and released Dec. 22 on $35,000 bond.

Warren County District Attorney Gil Martin said jurors chose a manslaughter indictment because the evidence did not show Morris intended to kill Jones.

&#8220He didn’t plan it,” Martin said. &#8220He was sitting there and Jones drove up with three of his buddies with him.”

Although Morris is a minor, he is charged as an adult. A conviction for manslaughter could result in a sentence of up to 20 years in prison. A conviction for murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison without parole.

According to police, the shooting stemmed from an earlier argument. Jones, police said, blamed Morris for shooting into a house earlier the same day on Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

The victim went to Waltersville Estates, a gated public housing compound in the area, at 5:27 p.m. and saw Morris. They confronted each other, and the teen fired at least one shot from a 9-mm handgun, hitting Jones in the left chest, police said.

Investigator Brad Derrington said the grand jury sent a message with the indictment.

&#8220This is not Dodge City and the OK Corral,” he said. &#8220You can’t just shoot in the middle of an apartment complex with kids around. Vicksburg is not going to stand for it, and the jury proved it by indicting him for manslaughter.”

Derrington declined to give more details on the case because it is expected to go to trial.

At 1:21 a.m. the day Jones was killed, shots had been reported fired into a 1998 Honda and a house in the 2100 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

That case remains under investigation.

&#8220I’m waiting on ballistics tests,” Derrington said. &#8220They should be due within days from the Mississippi Crime Lab.”

Jones’ death was one of two homicides investigated in Vicksburg in 2006. No arrest has been made in the Nov. 26 shooting death of Amanda Yevette DeVaul, 20, at her home at 807 Second North St.

In Warren County outside Vicksburg, four homicides were recorded in 2006 and arrests were made in two. No county homicides were recorded in 2005 and there were six inside Vicksburg.