Violent house party leaves man dead

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Detectives stayed at a northeast Fresno house through Sunday afternoon, gathering evidence and investigating the death of a 57-year-old man found on the front lawn.

Police say they got calls from concerned neighbors about a loud house party around 1:30 a.m. Sunday morning and then another call less then an hour later reporting fighting in the street and rocks and bottles being thrown. "And when we arrived, we found quite the scene," Lt. Burke Farrah with the Fresno Police Department said. "Apparently a vacant house where a party had been thrown."

Farrah says there were somewhere between 30 and 100 people, including teens and minors. 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.

Officers and emergency responders tried to save him, but he was pronounced dead at the scene. "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," Farrah said.

Police will only say that whoever threw the party was associated with the house, and the man who died did get in some kind of fight with someone at the party.

But a neighbor said he would often see the man at the house while walking his dogs. He says this is tragic, and shocking news. "Nice guy," the neighbor who did not want to be identified 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."

Other neighbors seemed to be in shock. "Maybe they just don't know what happened," said the neighbor. "If you knew, you could probably be a little bit more open or willing."

Police say they've spoken with several juveniles and minors who were at the party, but they'd still like to talk to others who left the scene. "So, we are asking the community 'if you were at that party, we would like to talk to you about who was there and what happened,'" Farrah said.