Evelyn Hanks, 81, called 911 at 9:20 a.m. Saturday requesting an ambulance at her residence on Furrs Mill Road near Lake Lincoln, Lincoln County Sheriff Steve Rushing said.

“She’d informed them that she’d been shot and her husband had been shot,” he said.

Deputies and first responders found the woman in the living room and she’d been shot in the chest. She told authorities her husband was in the bedroom and might be dead.

The deceased was identified at Eugene Chester Hanks, 83.

Both had been shot with a handgun.

Lincoln County Coroner Clay McMorris said Hanks was pronounced dead at the scene by King’s Daughters Medical Center EMS at 9:38 a.m.

“Based on the information that she provided to us and what was at the house, we don’t believe there was anyone else involved in this incident,” Rushing said.

Rushing said Monday that the case is being investigated as a murder-attempted suicide. “That’s the way it’s been presented,” he said.

The elderly couple lived in a single-story brick home in a well-kept corner lot at Furrs Mill and Lake Lincoln roads between Heucks Retreat and the Clear Branch communities.

Neighbors said they were a quiet couple, and they rarely saw them out of their home.

Evelyn Hanks underwent surgery Saturday at University of Mississippi Medical Center. UMMC spokeswoman Annie Oeth said she was in fair condition Monday evening.

Rushing said that he does not know if charges will be filed against Hanks until he meets with District Attorney Dee Bates.