(NECN: John Moroney) - Multiple gunshots were the first signs of trouble in Fitchburg, Mass. The time was 4:30 in the morning.
Bruce Cote was in his bedroom when that gunfire quickly turned to banging at his front door.
The victim was identified by the Worcester County DA as 33-year old Shaun Hibbard, who was pronounced dead at a hospital.
"I wasn't going to answer the door," Cote said. "So I then got on the phone and called 9-1-1, and they told me not to do anything."
Blood still marks the door frame of the first home where the young man went for help. A woman who did not want to be identified said she could hear the victim calling out for help in the dark. "So I come out on my porch and I'm saying ‘hello, hello, hello.’ He goes ‘help, help I got shot. I need help’," she said.
Hibbard eventually collapsed on the front porch of this home in a pool of blood, knocking on the door. The owner came down and within minutes police arrived. Neighbors said they did not know the victim.
Neighbor Tony Tessier said, "He was on the porch. He went to a neighbor's house to get help. The guy came out and saw him. They had already called 9-1-1."
Authorities say Hibbard had a confrontation with an assailant at his car, not far from where he died.
It's a shocking development for the people who live on Forest Road. Unfortunately, many feel this kind of violence is becoming all too commonplace.
