VIDALIA — Derec Dobbins was a peacemaker, even in his last seconds of life.

Dobbins, affectionately called Beedy by friends and family, died early Wednesday morning after being shot during an argument on Davis Street.

Vidalia police found Dobbins, 24, lying on Morris Lee Lane after receiving a 911 call shortly after midnight about a shooting.

Close friend Tommy Duck said he heard Dobbins trying to resolve the situation shortly before gunshots rang out.

“You are my buddy, I don’t have any problem with you man,” Duck recalled Dobbins saying.

Dobbins was transported to Natchez Regional Medical Center with a gunshot wound to the chest. He was pronounced dead at 1:15 a.m. Wednesday.

Duck said he was confused by the shooting because Dobbins and the alleged shooter Vincent Dotson were close friends.

“Beedy just wanted everybody to be happy, he was a good dude,” Duck said. “I just don’t know what happened. We all used to hang out and play basketball together.”

Dotson, 20, 423 Clinton St., Vidalia, was arrested on a charge of second-degree murder after fleeing on foot and leading Concordia Parish Sheriff’s Office deputies on a brief car chase, police reported.

Deputies spotted Dotson driving out of the Pentecostals of the Miss-Lou parking lot, near Ferriday, shortly after 3 a.m.

He led deputies on a brief chase, police reported, but he was eventually stopped just outside of Vidalia on U.S. 84.

Caprice Glass, 22, 102 Edgin St., Natchez, was allegedly in the car with Dotson and was arrested on a charge of aggravated flight from an officer.

Vidalia Assistant Police Chief Bruce Wiley said no shell casings were recovered from the scene and an investigation is pending.

Family and friends gathered at Dobbins’ residence on Davis Street Wednesday afternoon to share memories of an avid outdoorsman.

“I hate that my baby had to go like this,” Dobbins’ mother Angela Booker said. “I don’t even really know how it happened. I just got a call telling me that he had died, so I got here as quickly as I could.”

Booker said Dobbins went fishing yesterday, a past-time that he frequently enjoyed.

“He liked fishing or hunting or anything outdoors,” she said. “He also liked electronics. He could wire anything together.”

Duck smiled briefly when recalling playing basketball with Dobbins.

“I was quicker than him, but Beedy could shoot really well,” Duck said. “I always wanted him on my team when we were playing.”

Booker said funeral arrangements are pending because Dobbins was an organ donor and the family hasn’t received his body.