A single shot fired just before midnight on Sunday woke residents southeast of Melbourne, left one man dead and added to a growing death toll from gun-related violence in 2019.

Police were called to Springvale Road at Springvale after reports of a gunshot about 11.50pm. A man who has yet to be identified died at the scene and his shooter fled on foot. The gunman remains at large, police say.

The sequence of events is being pieced together by detectives but one witness claims the victim posted on social media that he was going to be shot, according to Nine News reporter Lana Murphy.

Huge crime scene area cordoned off on Springvale Rd, with homicide detectives still on scene after man was shot and killed in this lane way 11.50 last night. Witness claims victim posted on social media claiming he was going to be shot. @9NewsMelb pic.twitter.com/2RYHo8PKnR — Lana Murphy (@LanaMurphy) March 10, 2019

Seven News spoke with the same witness, who told them the victim posted the message on Snapchat in the hours before his death.

Victoria Police Commander Tim Hansen told reporters this morning that the two parties were known to each other but “I’m not in a position to ... go too early on that sort of speculation” (around Snapchat).

A large crime scene has been established outside a Thai massage parlour and a tyre shop in the otherwise quiet suburb 23km southeast of the Melbourne CBD.

The suspected murder is the fifth fatal shooting this month in Victoria, where police are hosing down claims a new gangland war is breaking out.

The violence included four murders in four days that began with a shooting in Dandenong and ended with bullets being fired in a Kensington street.

Police were first called to Dandenong, southeast of Melbourne, where a man was found dead inside a vehicle that was sprayed with bullets.

Mitat Rasimi was ambushed and shot a number of times before trying to get away. His car ploughed into a tree.

The next night, two men in their 30s were shot and killed at Meadow Heights, north of the city. They were found in different streets, 500m apart, after residents heard gunshots fired in quick succession.

Then 30-year-old Ben Togiai was shot and killed at a planned boxing event in Kensington, northwest of the CBD. Three gunmen — identified as brothers Ali and Abdullah El Nasher and Mikhael Myko — fired shots in the foyer and in the street outside Melbourne Pavilion before fleeing.

Abdullah El Nasher and Myko were tracked down after a week-long manhunt in NSW and are being extradited to Victoria. Ali El Nasher remains a fugitive.

Veteran police detective and former NSW assistant commissioner Clive Small told news.com.au that “violence across the border seems to be on the rise”.

A retired police officer who spoke with news.com.au described Victoria’s crime wave of the last few years as “wilder … almost like going back to the 1920s”.

“It just seems that Victoria has taken over as the dominant state of violence,” he added.

Crime Command acting ­Assistant Commissioner ­Michael Frewen told The Herald Sun police are probing any possible gangland links.

“We are exploring all avenues,” he said.

“Each shooting has specific information and we are exploring the associations and reasons for contact,” he said. “This includes occupation, who they were associated with and what contact they had.”

A Victoria Police spokesman said the shooting at Springvale is not believed to have links to any of the other shootings in Melbourne this months.

Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000 or visit www.crimestoppers.com.au