The Roanoke Police Department is investigating the murder of a 20-year-old Roanoke man who was found shot early Saturday in a compact car parked near a vacant storefront in the 3800 block of Shenandoah Avenue Northwest.

Police spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said officers responded at 3:47 a.m. to a report of shots fired.

At the scene, they found victim Arazae Andre Johnson in the vehicle’s front passenger seat. He was transferred to Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Aisha Johnson would not say whether a weapon has been recovered or how many times the victim had been shot.

At the scene, she said police also found a gathering of people who had been partying in the vacant store, which is near a Getty Mart.

"It is believed that the shooting and the private party were related," said Aisha Johnson.

No arrests have been made. The investigation is ongoing.

City tax records show the owner of the 16,009-square-foot building at 3822 Shenandoah Ave. to be Hamed F. Alquza. The party was under way in a portion of the building where the windows had been covered in dark plastic. The building also houses a clothing store. The owner could not be reached for comment.

Rajesh and Purnima Patel own the Getty Mart next door, which they said they typically close at 11 p.m.

Rajesh Patel said that when he left the convenience store Friday night "there were three or four kids" in the parking lot outside the adjacent building.

"Youngsters. Underage," he said. "Youngsters have guns these days."

In late July, a man brandishing a gun tried to rob Rajesh Patel around 11 p.m. after he had closed the store.

"He said, ‘I’ll shoot you. Give me money,’" he recalled. "I pushed him away."

Patel said he and the man struggled before the would-be robber and a companion fled toward the 400 block of Westside Boulevard Northwest. Patel was not injured and no money or valuables were taken.

Purnima Patel said she has neither heard nor seen evidence of partying at the building next door. But her husband said people were cooking hot dogs in the parking lot on Labor Day and that he has seen young men loitering there at other times.

Oscar Hancock, a frequent customer of the convenience store who lives nearby, said he’s witnessed parties and "people raising hell all night" at the building as he has driven by at night. He said he also has seen people gathered around pit bulls that were fighting in the parking lot. On Saturday morning, there were at least two pit bulls behind a fence at the scene.

Rajesh Patel said that when he left Friday he saw two scooters, one red and one blue, parked outside the adjacent building. On Saturday morning, as the police department’s forensic unit continued to investigate the scene, only the blue scooter remained.

Anyone with information about the shooting can call the Roanoke Police Department at 853-5959 or Crime Line at 344-8500.