SAN JOSE — Hugh McFarlane Jr. was just moving into his summer room in the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity house Tuesday afternoon when he heard one gunshot, then several more in a row. He heard a car accelerate quickly and looked out his window onto 11th Street to see a van meandering forward with a motionless driver slumped inside.

“I thought it was fake at first,” the third-year San Jose State University student said. “I didn’t believe it.”

It took a while for McFarlane, who did not see the shooter or the getaway vehicle, to comprehend what had happened in broad daylight, right outside his door and just a block from his school.

Someone in a van shot two others in another van, killing one man and seriously wounding the other. Neither of the victims was identified as of Wednesday afternoon. It was San Jose’s 24th homicide of the year, a killing that San Jose police on Wednesday said was not a random attack.

Both San Jose police and university officials said the victims were not affiliated with the campus, and police Chief Eddie Garcia said the shooting did not appear to have any campus connections.

“We feel fairly confident that it was targeted and as far as the motivation behind it, we’ll let detectives continue their work,” Garcia said.

A day after the shooting, residents in the area were still upset over a killing that happened so close to them.

“It’s rare this close to campus,” McFarlane said . “It does happen in San Jose, but it’s never this close to home.”

SJSU interim president Sue Martin said in a statement that she was “deeply shaken” by the homicide that “occurred in a neighborhood where many students and other members of the SJSU community live or regularly walk.”

McFarlane, a 20-year-old from Southern California, said he normally feels safe on campus but is now nervous walking down 11th Street — “because you know it could happen,” he said.

Other residents of 11th Street and the San Jose State neighborhood shared McFarlane’s sense of fear a day after the deadly shooting. Police responded on Tuesday to a 2:11 p.m. report to find two wounded men inside a vehicle; both men were rushed to the hospital, where one died from injuries. The suspect, a young Hispanic man, is believed to have driven away in a gray van after the attack.

The shooting was the second in two days for San Jose and marked the city’s 24th homicide since January — more than double San Jose’s homicide tally this time last year.

Police arrived on the scene quickly and in full force Tuesday, residents said. By one account, at least 40 officers swarmed the area along with a helicopter.

Within a half hour of the gunshots, resident Mike Romero said police evacuated Sam Quickwash Laundry, which sits on the corner of the block where the crime occurred. Romero’s housemates were in the laundromat at the time of the shooting and were escorted back to their residence on 11th Street by officers. Romero, who was sitting outside his house when he heard what he first assumed to be fireworks, got only bits and pieces of the story later from his friends: a drive-by attack, an ambulance and a fatality.

Romero, who moved to 11th Street about a year ago, said he still considers the vicinity of San Jose State a “nice area” and that he rarely hears about violence. But other residents said the shooting was nothing new in what they described as a crime-ridden neighborhood, and that they are fed up with the situation.

Melody Burdick did not witness the shooting but said her supervisor at Walgreens told store employees what had happened, reminding them to watch out. Burdick, who just graduated from San Jose State and lives close to campus, said that she feels relatively secure on campus during the daytime. But at the Walgreens where she works, on First and Santa Clara Street, she is used to seeing violent encounters.

The regular violence –combined with high rents — has prompted Burdick and her 20-year-old coworker, Juan Zamora, to consider leaving San Jose.

“Someone’s trying to kill someone every other day around this place,” said Zamora, who attends San Jose City College but lives across the street from San Jose State. “It’s not a suitable place to be living.”

Born and raised in San Jose, Zamora remembers certain areas being unsafe during his childhood. But as he’s gotten older, his sense of danger has heightened.

“At the first opportunity, I’d move out,” he said on Wednesday while sorting clothes with Burdick inside the 11th Street laundromat.

Marissa Paredes, who lives five houses down from the laundromat, voiced similar frustration with the crime in her neighborhood, and her fears for her children.

“It’s hard because the kids like to be outside,” Paredes said. “I don’t feel safe having the kids play outside at all.”

Paredes reeled off a litany of recent crimes in and around her apartment: break-ins, stolen bikes and cars and a stabbing last year right in front of her home. Her family has even installed fake cameras to discourage criminals. Like Zamora, Paredes wants out: She and her family are saving up to hopefully move to Manteca, where they have relatives.

Asked if she felt safe in the area, Paredes’ 9-year-old daughter Briahnna Garcia simply shook her head.

“I’d rather live in Manteca.”

Staff writer Robert Salonga contributed to this report. Contact Hannah Knowles at 408-920-5767. Follow her at Twitter.com/KnowlesHannah.