Royal Gardens residents woke up Sunday to see a local hall surrounded by police cruisers and crime scene tape.

The Royal Gardens Community League, located at 4030 117 Street NW, was the focus of an investigation by police into a “suspicious death.”

Police said patrol officers were called to the area around 3:30 a.m. after receiving a weapons complaint from a resident of the neighbourhood.

When they arrived at the hall, police learned a 37-year-old man had been taken to hospital by his friends. He later died from his injuries.

The victim has not yet been identified. An autopsy is scheduled for Tuesday.

For several hours Sunday, on-scene investigators had cordoned off the parking lot of the Royal Gardens Community League and part of 41 Avenue. Evidence markers could be seen scattered throughout the hall’s parking lot and a nearby playground. Police removed items from the hall, and dusted one of the several vehicles still left in its parking lot. Multiple officers were focused on what appeared to be a bullet hole in the side of the building.

It is unknown what happened early Sunday morning at the community centre.

Brandon Babiuk told CTV Edmonton he noticed some noise on the street around 2 a.m.

“There was a vehicle ripping up and down this road, burning out his tires and revving up his engine,” Babiuk recalled. “Then about a half hour later I had a friend text me saying he heard a bunch of banging and commotion and screaming.”

Another resident, Jari Roszczyk, said he also heard noise but hadn’t thought it could be gunshots. “I heard something that sounded like firecrackers or fireworks.”

“I wasn’t trying to think about what it was. Just went back to bed and that was it.”

On its Facebook page, Royal Gardens Community League said there was “an incident with a renter” in the parking lot.

Nadir Bellahmer, the hall’s president, took to Facebook early Sunday afternoon to confirm the news.

“Tragedies like this shake communities to the core and I am personally devastated,” Bellahmer wrote.

“This is beyond tragic to me and not something that I had ever imagined would happen in our community or hall grounds.”

Police have asked anyone with information about the event to call EPS at 780-423-4567 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

With files from Timm Bruch