NATCHEZ — A Natchez man pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder in connection with a January 2017 shooting on Morgantown Road.

Elijah Hall, 41, 205 St. Mary St., was sentenced to 25 years in the Mississippi Department of Corrections after Hall pleaded guilty to shooting his then-girlfriend, Joyce Haynes, 42, on Jan. 9, 2017.

Adams County Sheriff’s Office Lt. Cal Green said deputies responded to a shots fired call just after noon on Jan. 9 at 383D Morgantown Road and found three “hysterical” people who told deputies a man shot his girlfriend.

Green said deputies discovered Haynes bleeding from several gunshot wounds inside the residence on Morgantown Road.

Adams County Coroner James Lee said at the time that though she had several injuries, the gunshot to her head was fatal.

Lee pronounced Haynes dead at the scene.

Green said the residents identified the shooter as “KC,” but that deputies later discovered the man’s name was Elijah Hall. The residents told deputies they had witnessed Hall shoot Haynes, she said.

Deputies arrested Hall, Green said, at 210 Brookfield Drive within 45 minutes of the original shots fired call.

Hall’s bond was set at $405,000, with $400,000 for the capital murder charge and $5,000 for felon in possession of a firearm.

Unable to make bail, Hall spent just more than a year awaiting trial.

Hall pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree murder Monday, for which Sixth Circuit Court District Judge Forrest “Al” Johnson sentenced Hall to serve 25 years with credit for time served.