A tangled Florida Panhandle case involving a sheriff, accusations of misconduct, and an argument over gun rights has taken a new twist: a homicide.

State authorities announced Monday that they had arrested Floyd Eugene Parrish on a second-degree murder charge. The 61-year-old Bristol resident is accused of shooting James Lester Nesmith just before midnight on Saturday. Parrish remains in jail, but his attorney, Ryan Andrews, contends that his client shot in self-defense and said it “smells like a political arrest.”