A Colbert County man has been charged with murder after a fight over a football game went too far.

David Allen Fulkerson, a University of Alabama Crimson Tide fan, had a group of people at his residence to watch his Tide play the LSU Tigers on November 9. One of his guests was LSU fan James Michael Roland Merritt.

The two men got into a conflict that, according to Colbert County Sheriff Frank Williamson, was escalated by alcohol and expletives.

“They just got into it over the ball game,” the sheriff told the Florence Times-Daily. “They’d been jawing at each other all day.”

The fight culminated in Fulkerson shooting Merritt with a pistol. Merritt spent nearly a week on life support at Huntsville Hospital before succumbing to his injuries on Friday.

Fulkerson’s bond is set at $100,000.

Henry Thornton is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can contact him by email: henry@new-yhn.local or on Twitter @HenryThornton95.