Neighbors stunned after deadly house party

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- After police left, neighbors helped board up windows broken during an overnight house party. Police say anywhere from 30 to 100 people, including teens and minors were at the party.

Around 2 a.m., police responded to the house after reports of fighting in the street and bottles and rocks being thrown. When they arrived they found one teen with a head injury walking near the house. And a 57-year-old not breathing on the front lawn. We believe that the deceased man, a 57-year-old Fresno resident, had responded to that location in an attempt to break up the party and restore some order to the neighborhood," Lt. Burke Farrah with the Fresno Police Department said.

Cheryl Shields says this is normally a quiet neighborhood. She and her husband live a few doors down from the house, which police blocked off with tape. "He came outside and saw 20 cop cars with their lights flashing and came into the bedroom and said 'you have to come see this,'" according to Shields.

Right now, police will only say that whoever threw the party was associated with the house and the man who died did get in a fight with someone at the party. But neighbors say they've seen the 57-year-old at the house before, including a neighbor who did not want to show his face on camera.

"Nice guy," the neighbor said. "And seemed like a hard worker, maybe leave early, come back late -- just somebody you'd want to know or have as a neighbor. Our thoughts and prayers go out to that family. I've thought about him all day today, a man younger than I am now gone, just because he tried to protect his house."

Authorities are still working to determine an exact cause of his death. An autopsy will take place Monday morning.