NATCHEZ — A man was shot early Monday morning on East Stiers Lane after opening his house to a man he knew.

The shooter was allegedly trying to rob him.

The victim, William L. Berry, 32, was in stable condition after undergoing surgery Monday morning at Natchez Regional Medical Center for the gunshot wound, Natchez Police Chief Mike Mullins said.

Natchez police responded to the incident, which occurred between 11:46 p.m. Sunday and 12:40 a.m. Monday, after Rosina Jones, a resident of the house and the victim’s girlfriend, called in to report the incident.

Jones said she was sleeping and woke to find her boyfriend, Berry, wrestling with a man wearing black in the house’s front room.

“They tussled and fought over the gun,” Mullins said.

Jones reportedly said she also saw a second man pointing a gun at Berry, at which point she ran out the back door of the 620 E. Stiers residence.

Jones said she then heard two or three gunshots before observing Berry running out the back door. Berry and Jones both ran to a neighbor’s house, where Jones noticed Berry had been shot.

A neighbor reportedly saw two men dressed in black running from the house where the incident occurred after the shooting.

Mullins said Berry personally knew one of the two men wearing black, Charles Davis, 20, 405 N. Spruce St., and he let the men in after they knocked on the door.

“The victim claimed Davis tried to rob him and they fought over gun,” Mullins said.

Berry could not identify the masked man, Mullins said.

Davis called officers to turn himself in Monday morning, Mullins said. NPD officers picked him up and arrested him on charges of aggravated assault.