Police have now identified the victim in an open homicide case under investigation in the southwest Calgary community of Evergreen.

Officers say they were called to a home in the 500 block of Evermeadow Road S.W. at around 11:15 p.m.

Officials say they found a deceased male outside the home. They have since identified him as Joel Gary Geddes, 31. An autopsy is ongoing and an official cause of death will be released once that is complete.

When police first arrived, they blocked off a large area in the neighbourhood and prevented anyone from going into or coming out of the containment area. After a short period of time, they reduced the scene, keeping a smaller area blocked off.

Police add that there is no evidence to indicate that it was a random attack. They are still working out a possible motive in the killing.

Police have not released if they have any suspects at this time either, but they are working to determine suspect descriptions and confirm if there were any vehicles involved.

They are also speaking with a number of witnesses about the incident.

Staff Sergeant Colin Chisholm with the CPS Homicide Unit says they are always concerned whenever there is a homicide in the City of Calgary. "We're even more concerned when it's a shooting in an area of Calgary. There's always a concern that somebody else may be injured rather than somebody who may have been targeted."

He says that there already have been a number of tips that are helping with the investigation, even though it is still in its early stages.

Chisholm says that it is rare that they have a positive confirmation of the identity of a victim before an autopsy has been performed, so it gives investigators a leg up. "The identity has been confirmed by a family member. Often, we don't have that confirmation until the individual has been at the office of the Chief Medical Examiner for a period of time and people have officially confirmed the victim."

Residents in the area say they were woken up by a number of gunshots and startled on Wednesday night with the large police presence.

"It's scary. It makes me want to move. It's pretty quiet. That's the weird thing - nothing ever really happens," said Phil Scheiris.

He says that he didn't see very much of what was going on. "I went to my side window and I heard yelling, but I couldn't make out what was being said. That was it. That was all I heard."

Matt Fox says he heard what sounded like six gunshots in a row. "It was about 11 p.m. and we were just watching TV. It was pretty loud and sounded like it came from a few houses down. I thought it was gunshots. I wasn't totally sure, but my wife was pretty sure."

Jason Mantle said he was out at the hockey game and couldn't even get home because of the police presence. "I was about two blocks away and I just kept driving around because there were police cars everywhere. Finally I stopped and asked why I couldn't go home. They told me that I might want to go away for a while."

Mantle said he left for a little while, coming back after about two hours where he was escorted to his home. "They said they were still investigating."

He says it's a bit unnerving to see something like this happening. "My quiet little neighbourhood is changing. We've never had anything like this happen before. We've been here for 10 years, a lot of familes have left but we're one of the original ones."

Mantle says that he has seen some things going on in the community, but nothing this significant.

Sgt. Chisholm says that shootings can happen in any neighbourhood in the city and no community is safe from these types of incidents. "These situations can occur anywhere within the City of Calgary. No area is immune to the possibility of this. Calgary, from an overall perspective, is a safe city. Have we had a number of incidents recently that are concerning? Yes, we acknowledge that."

Investigators are asking anyone who may have been in the area at the time to contact police through the non-emergency line at 403-266-1234 or the Homicide Tip Line at 403-428-8877.

Tips can also be left anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers using any of the following methods:

TALK: 1-800-222-8477
TYPE: www.calgarycrimestoppers.org
TEXT: tttTIPS to 274637