A killer remains at large after a 41-year-old man was gunned down outside a Vanier apartment building Saturday night.

Dady Junior Jean, 41, was fatally shot outside his apartment building on Lacasse Ave., where a party had been taking place.

“He was my mechanic,” Byron Thistle said Sunday. “I was his best friend.” Jean also worked as a furniture mover, according to neighbours.

“I passed by him every day,” said neighbour Preston McLaren. “He’d be in the back drinking beer. He’d be working on his boat.”

McLaren described Jean as a big, proud man who came off as a bit of a showoff.

“He wasn’t humble,” McLaren said.

In a facebook post, Jean's son Austin said: "R.I.P Junior Jean I miss you and I will always love you. You my have not been the best dad. But you didn't deserve this. I will never forget you."

Cops and paramedics were called to 340 Lacasse St. in Vanier, south of Blake Blvd. at 8:33 p.m. Saturday.

There was a party going on. At some point, Jean was involved in argument.

It’s not clear whether the argument occurred inside the party or outside. But Jean left the party, went outside and was shot.

Ottawa Police Staff Sgt. Bruce Pirt said cops are still looking into when and where the argument occurred and whether it was related to the shooting or coincidental.

“Multiple theories are surfacing on that as to what transpired and whether it played a role in the actual series of events,” he said.

Investigators in the Ottawa police major crime unit believe Jean was shot by someone he knew.

“We’re still exploring motives, but it does not appear to be a random attack,” Pirt said.

Jean was taken to the trauma centre at the Ottawa Hospital’s Civic campus where he was pronounced dead.

All day Sunday, police investigators focused on two buildings on Lacasse St., northeast of the intersection of McArthur Ave. and the Vanier Pkwy.

Cops cordoned off an apartment building with yellow tape. More than a dozen yellow evidence markers dotted the driveway at 340 Lacasse St. It’s a two-storey, red-brick apartment building, nestled in among other low-rise apartment buildings.

Police officers from various units collected evidence and interviewed witnesses at the scene. Officers combed nearby parking lots and lawns with metal detectors while other investigators rifled through trash bins.

Shortly after Jean was shot, Giscar Louis was busy moving into his new home with his wife and small children.

Police approached him and told him he couldn’t continue moving because the area was a crime scene.

“I saw someone laying in the back (of the driveway),” said Giscar Louis. “It’s not nice when you have this in front of your wife and kids.”

The driveway of a neighbouring apartment building also had evidence markers.

The shooting is Ottawa’s seventh homicide of 2015.

It’s also the fourth shooting in a week.

Twitter: @Corey_Larocque