Person found fatally shot in Santa Clara neighborhood; house burns near shooting scene

A person was fatally shot in a Santa Clara neighborhood on Friday afternoon at a home doors away from another that later burned in a major fire, authorities said.

Santa Clara police said the activity was happening on Enright Avenue between Homestead Road and Saratoga Avenue, just west of Scott Boulevard.

It began at about 12:30 p.m. after neighbors phoned in reports of someone being shot. Santa Clara police said when officers arrived, they found a victim on the front lawn of a house who had been shot at least once. The person was later pronounced dead, police said.

Dozens of law enforcement officers from several jurisdictions swarmed the area in a search for a suspect, which included tactical police vehicles and SWAT officers.

Neighbors described a chaotic scene as heavily armed officers flooded the neighborhood.

"All of a sudden, there were a lot of guys with machine guns in my front yard," neighbor Terry Coe said. "It was a shooter thing. They said there's an active shooter. A lot of people with guns running around."

Following the shooting, a fire began burning a few doors down at another home, police said. Because of the ongoing police situation and suspect search, firefighters had to use ladder trucks to spray water on the fire from a few homes away. 

The fire completely destroyed a one-story, single-family home. Neighbors told CBS News Bay Area that the home that burned was listed as a short-term rental. It was not clear whether the house fire was related to the fatal shooting.

Coe, who has lived in the neighborhood for more than three decades, said there had been frequent activity at a home near where the shooting happened.

"What happened is shocking. It shouldn't happen to anybody, but it was kind of a shady kind of house," Coe said. "Hate to say that but when you're in a neighborhood that long, you kind of see what's going on. A lot of people going in and out of that house."

Another neighbor, Farid Davanloo, said he believed he knew the victim and described the family as quiet and friendly.

"They're very quiet people," Davanloo said. "Keep to themselves. They're very nice."

Davanloo said his niece is friends with the victim's daughter and expressed concern about violence in the neighborhood.

"The scary thing is having guns around," he said. "People getting crazy with guns. I'm always worried about my niece and my kids."

No arrests had been announced as of Friday night.