Two men were hospitalized in the early hours of Tuesday morning after an argument escalated to violence.

“I guess the best way to describe it, is it was a domestic situation,” said Beaufort County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Charlie Rose.

Authorities were alerted to a mobile home park on Tyler Street in Washington shortly after 1 a.m., following a fight between two men that ended with both in the Vidant Beaufort Hospital Emergency Department. Malcolm Jamal Johnson, 29, of Blounts Creek, suffered a facial injury from a club-type weapon; Steven Clegon, 42, of Washington, was shot with a handgun in what Rose referred to as a “through and through” injury — a single bullet that went through Clegon’s upper chest and arm.

Neither was transported to the hospital by EMS; both drove their own vehicles, Rose said.

Rose said investigators are still trying to piece together what happened.

“We’re still trying to figure out exactly what led up to it, who was the main aggressor and who’s going to get charged,” Rose said.

Rose said charges could range from assault to assault with intent to kill causing serious injury, North Carolina’s equivalent to attempted murder.

“There is a possibility that it might just be an assault,” Rose said. “The actual shooting could be self-defense.”

Rose said both men were treated at the hospital and released within a couple of hours.