A Vicksburg man is dead and his brother-in-law is in jail after a family squabble at a bar on North Washington Street escalated into a shooting.

Donald Wayne Vinson, 39, 350 Vinson Road, died from a single gunshot wound to the face in the shooting reported at about 11:30 Friday night at the Town & Country Lounge, 3350 N. Washington, Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said.

“It was a domestic dispute that got physical,” Vicksburg Police Lt. Bobby Stewart said.

At the bar along with Vinson were his wife, Cynthia Vinson; her brother, James Denver Ainsworth and his wife, Theresa Ainsworth; and Tammy Ainsworth, the mother of Cynthia Vinson and James Ainsworth.

Police believe the Vinsons began an argument that turned into a scuffle and Tammy and Theresa Ainsworth stepped in.

When Theresa Ainsworth’s husband joined in, police said, he brought in a .40-caliber handgun that was used to kill Donald Wayne Vinson.

James Ainsworth, 24, 279 Opperman Road, was in the Warren County Jail Saturday, being held without bond on a murder charge, Stewart said.

Theresa Ainsworth, Stewart said, was tending bar at the time of the fight and shooting.

A family member reached Saturday declined to discuss the fight, citing legal counsel. Reports were unclear as to whether Ainsworth left the establishment to retrieve the gun, which police later recovered.

Other patrons not related to Vinson or Ainsworth were inside at the time, Stewart said.

Huskey said Vinson’s body was returned to Glenwood Funeral Home after an autopsy Saturday night confirmed his findings at the scene.

Friday night’s shooting death is the first inside Vicksburg in 2008. Ten were reported in 2007. None has been reported in Warren County in 2008.

The Town & Country has not been a hotspot for rowdiness, Stewart said, citing as the only recent incident a January arrest for aggravated DUI involving a woman who was struck by another patron’s car.

Since a Vicksburg man was killed in July following an argument that started inside the now-defunct New New Orleans Cafe, Vicksburg officials have tried to crack down on crime originating at bars through tougher ordinances and lobbying for new state laws governing how bars are licensed.

Nightclubs have been redefined as any business generating more than 40 percent of its operating revenue from alcohol sales. Opening any such business was banned, exempting those already in operation.

Downtown, where establishments have “resort status” under state law, the ordinance may prove problematic. Currently, the status, issued by the state Tax Commission, exempts businesses from local zoning laws and those setting operational hours and may override local hours for beer sales.

An employee reached Saturday said the business is owned by Tom Bullock and it sells only beer, but patrons may bring their own hard liquor if it is not handled by the employees.

Legislation is pending in both chambers of the Mississippi Legislature that provides resort status only if a business already has municipally licensed permits for beer sales.