Police are investigating several leads in the beating death of a Villa Rica man last week but so far have no suspects, leaving neighbors feeling uneasy in what had been a quiet public housing complex.

The victim, a white man in his early 60s whom police have not identified, was brutally beaten inside his apartment Wednesday and died from blunt-force head trauma, according to Carroll County Coroner Samuel Eady.

“I’m sure he was hit with something, I just don’t know what,” Eady said. “I would describe the scene as gruesome.”

Police have not said whether there were multiple assailants or only one.

Authorities would not release the man’s name because his family still had not been notified as of late Monday.

“We are trying to locate the next of kin,” said Villa Rica police Capt. Keith Shaddix.

The man moved into Apartment No. 18 at 500 Old Stone Road about three or four months ago, according to neighbors, and he lived by himself.

“He lived at one end and I live at the other end,” Shirley Ashley said. “We talked from porch to porch. He was always friendly.”

During Ashley’s conversations with the man, he never mentioned his family.

“He would ask me about the children but I never heard him talk about any family,” Ashley said.

Ashley said she rarely saw anyone besides the man at the apartment, but she did notice a white car parked outside on Wednesday.

“I was cooking all day so I had the door open,” Ashley said. “I saw the white car that day and my daughter saw it Tuesday.”

Though her door was open most of the day, Ashley said she didn’t hear any noise coming from the apartment so she was surprised when police questioned her about the incident.

“How could someone do this at a time like this?” Ashley said. “This is a time when people should be getting together and feeling thankful they are alive.”

Another neighbor across the walkway from the man’s apartment said she was shocked by the murder.

“It’s a horrible thing,” Dorothy Cheatham said. “It’s scary to think someone was murdered just outside my door.”

Cheatham said she didn’t know the man well and only spoke with him in passing.

“Nobody knew much about him, but we all look after each other,” Cheatham said. “If he hadn’t seen me in a couple of days he would ask after me.”

Both Ashley and Cheatham said the man was always pleasant and kept to himself.

“We talked a lot about flowers,” Ashley said. “He would stay on his hands and knees working on those flowers.”

Cheatham said the section of the public housing units where she, Ashley and the man lived is mostly made up of elderly residents. “Everybody gets along as far as I know,” Cheatham said. “I’ve never been afraid here because nothing like this has ever happened.”

Ashley said she was rattled by the violence of the crime.

“Nothing like this has ever happened so close to me,” she said. “I am sorry the man was treated so badly.”

At this point in the investigation, Villa Rica Police Chief Michael Mansour said the department will receive assistance from the Carroll County Sheriff’s Office, Douglas County Sheriff’s Office and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.