STERLING HEIGHTS, Mich. – Police are searching for a killer in Sterling Heights after a man was shot to death in front of his friends.

Police said it was the first homicide of the year in Sterling Heights. Neighbors said the sound of gunshots woke them up around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday.

"It was the pop that woke them up," Sherrie Martin said.

Martin said she looked out her window and spotted a crowd of people. It was clear that something serious was going on in the parking lot, she said.

"They started yelling, 'Call the police. Call 911. We need an ambulance,'" Martin said.

A man was bleeding from at least one gunshot wound when police arrived. Neighbors said he was gathering with friends at the time of the shooting.

"I didn't hear a car," Martin said. "Someone said a car pulled away. I didn't hear it."

Sterling Heights police are trying to figure out why the man was targeted. It's clear the man didn't live at the location of the shooting. Martin's neighbors told her they exchanged words with a group at a bar earlier in the night.

"The person who they had an altercation with just couldn't let it go, and wasn't thinking and came here and decided to go further with it, unfortunately," Martin said.

Police insist there's no public threat, but for now, neighbors who call the community home are left to look over their shoulders as Sterling Heights police investigate their first murder of the year.

Sign up for ClickOnDetroit Email Newsletters (click here) for more stories like this.