Shawn Dauzat, a 51-year-old man, was killed on February 8, 2026, inside a home in Liberty, Mississippi, in a shooting that investigators say unfolded within his own family. That night, authorities were told Dauzat had disciplined his teenage son by taking away the boy’s phone and gaming system, and witnesses later described that punishment as the flashpoint that set everything in motion.
According to investigators’ accounts reported afterward, the situation escalated quickly from anger to gunfire, leaving Dauzat mortally wounded in the house the family had recently bought in Liberty—property he and his wife had hoped would become the start of a family farm. As the community tried to make sense of what happened, the Amite County coroner said an autopsy had been scheduled, though final findings had not yet been received at the time of the report.
An arrest followed, and Dauzat’s 16-year-old son was charged with first-degree murder. He was reported to be held at the Amite County jail on a $50,000 bond, as the case began moving from the initial investigation toward the next legal steps.
Prosecutors indicated the case had not yet been formally received by the district attorney’s office, but once it is, it is expected to be presented to a grand jury. Officials also noted that if the grand jury returns a homicide indictment, the teen could potentially be tried as an adult—an outcome that would shift the case into a far more severe legal track as the court process begins to take shape.
