Another murder in Surrey has raised the city’s already record homicide count.

Investigators believe an after-hours “booze can” was the scene of a physical altercation that left one man dead and another in critical condition early Saturday.

Mounties were called to the 9100-block of 147A Street at around 4:30 a.m. for reports of a fight that broke out inside a home.

Officers found two men suffering injuries that were not gunshot-related inside the home. Police have not confirmed what weapons – if any – were used in the assault.

Both men were taken to hospital where one died and the other remains in critical condition, according to Sgt. Jennifer Pound of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team.

“Inside that residence there were approximately 30 to 50 individuals,” Pound said. “We have spoken with some of them, definitely not all of them, and at this point we’re looking to identify who those individuals were, and have them come forward and speak with investigators.”

Police also want to identify three to five men who were spotted running away from the scene around the time of the incident, according to Pound.

They believe the two men weren’t fighting each other, and that the homicide may have had something to do with the men seen fleeing the scene.

Neighbours also said the house has been operating for years as an after-hours “booze can” home, which is a nightclub or bar that operates illegally.

“We’ve had problems with this same residence for about the last 3 years,” said Russ Taylor, who lives down the street from the home. “Every Friday, Saturday night, cars just line up and down the block here. People are partying there until five, six in the morning.”

Taylor said he’s not surprised to see police tape on his block once again, with a similar incident occurring in the neighbourhood two years ago.

“I hope that this does end it,” he said. “We’ve got little kids, like thousands of little kids on this street, and they’re out there playing half the time.”

Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said the city tried to shut down the "booze can" in April.

“You look at the circumstances around that and you think that’s such a tragedy, but how could we prevent this at 4 o’clock in the morning?” she said “It’s very, very frustrating, to say the least.”

The death marks the city’s 23rd homicide of 2013 in Surrey – the highest count in the city’s history.

Watts has said the majority of the murders have been linked to drugs and crime, which is why the city has assembled a homicide task force that is scheduled to meet for the first time on Tuesday.

“One of the things our task force will be looking at is identifying what those houses look like,” she said. “All that information is being put together.”

She urged people who have family members connected to organized crime to help the city out with what has become a glaring problem.

“The community has been great, but these are somebody’s brothers, sisters, so there has to be some level of responsibility from those families of those individuals,” she said.

The identity of the man killed has not yet been confirmed, but Pound said he was in his mid-40s.

She said at this stage, it’s too early to tell if the incident is connected to any of the city’s other murders.

Anyone with information is asked to call police immediately.

With a report from CTV British Columbia's Michele Brunoro