A 19-year-old friend of a teen shot dead in Surrey early Wednesday wept as he described his friend as "the nicest guy."

Ernest Grundza, 19, said the victim, Adem Aliu of Surrey, was only 17 and came from Albania recently and lived with an uncle.

"I hope they catch the guy who did it," said Grundza. "That's no good. He's too young."

As he spoke, his friend's body lay a block away at 103rd Avenue and 142nd Street, covered by a yellow tarpaulin.

"Every time you needed help, he was always there," Grundza said. "He would do anything for you. A lot of times he helped me."

Grundza said that as far as he knew, Adem wasn't mixed up in drugs.

He said he wasn't aware of his friend carrying a weapon, but added, "It's very dangerous in Surrey."

Grundza said they both went to the Guildford Learning Centre and Grundza last saw Adem on Tuesday

One tribute Wednesday night on Adem's Facebook page read, in part: "Why does the good guy always die first? Adem R.I.P. I cannot believe that you are dead. You are my first, my best friend, from the first day we meet. I wish you could be here with us."

RCMP spokesman Sgt. Peter Thiessen said investigators are combing the area for witnesses.

He said police responded to a call of shots fired at about 3:25 a.m. and found Adem lying on the street suffering gunshot wounds.

He died at the scene, said Thiessen, who wouldn't confirm reports that Adem had been shot in the head.

"What's not clear at this point is whether this is a random or targeted incident," Thiessen said. "We are pretty confident that it is not drug- or gang-related."

Adem didn't live in the neighbourhood, Thiessen said, but was known to frequent it.

"There appear to have been a number of people on the street when this occurred," added Thiessen. "We are trying to determine, while speaking to people outside, whether they are witnesses or suspects. It occurred out on the street and it wasn't related to any particular residence."

Neighbour Bob Atchison, 57, whose home is about 50 metres from the shooting site, said he was woken by a loud bang. His wife heard two shots.

"It was the largest bang I have ever heard in the area," he said. "I went out after 30 minutes and I saw a kid laying on the street with a stream of blood coming from him."

There were two other men with the victim, he said, and one of them was hysterical.

"The police had him on the curb and they ended up in a police car and they carted those two away."

Atchison, a City of Vancouver fleet manager, said his daughter goes to daycare nearby.

"When we left this morning I said, 'Honey, don't look left. I don't want you seeing this.'"

Atchison lives across from a First Nations housing complex. He said it has been visited by police in the past and he's seen people being led away in handcuffs.

dinwood@theprovince.com