Berkeley police are investigating the city's first homicide of the year after a man was fatally shot Thursday night in the 3000 block of Shattuck Avenue near Emerson Street, police said.

Police dispatchers started receiving calls about gunshots heard in the area around 6:50 p.m.

Paramedics arrived and found a man with gunshot wounds a few minutes later, Berkeley police spokeswoman Sgt. Mary Kusmiss said. Paramedics worked on the man at the scene for about 30 minutes and then transferred him to Highland Hospital in Oakland, where he was pronounced dead.

From evidence at the scene, "it doesn't appear that it was a random shooting," Kusmiss said.

Kusmiss said police had a crowd management issue from people who gathered in the area after hearing the shots and seeing police arrive.

Police are knocking on doors and talking to people in the street to get more information on a possible suspect, who Kusmiss tentatively described only as a black man in his 30s. She expected a lot of community participation in helping detectives develop leads.