With Christmas lights around his Oceanside home, Jimmy Missaalefua was ready to celebrate the holidays.
"They have a huge family," said neighbor Mark Montgomery. "They always have family and relatives come in and visit."
But on Christmas things took a wrong turn during a holiday gathering.
At around midnight, a neighbor says police were called to the 3900 block of Brown Street when the party got too loud.
A couple of hours later, police were called again -- but this time across the street, to Robert Pulley's home.
"[Pulley] seemed like he was belligerent and kind of drunk," Montgomery recalled on Sunday. "Then the wife brought him into the house."
Next-door neighbor Elaine Weidauer, remembers a big scene around the neighborhood cul-de-sac.
"There were police everywhere and a fire truck," she said.
Police eventually left, but for some reason around 3 a.m., Misaalefua walked over to Pulley's home.
"I saw them arguing, and then you just hear this 'clap, clap, clap,' " Montgomery said. "[Pulley] was apparently intoxicated. He pulled out a gun."
Misaalefua, 44, was shot in the head in front of his family, including his children. Pulley was arrested after the shooting. He was booked at the Vista Detention Center for murder.
Neighbors said Pulley, 47, had other recent run-ins with the law. According to a neighbor who didn't want to give out his name, last month, a SWAT team was called to the Pulley home.
Even so, some describe him as a kind neighbor who was going through a rough time.
"He always came over and asked [my mother] if she needed any help with anything around the yard," Montgomery said. "If she left her trash cans or anything, his sons -- or he -- would bring the trash cans up. They said that he had lost his job Thursday, so they're thinking that's what really snapped."
Misaalefua was taken to Tri-City Medical Center, where he later died.
The victim's nephew said his uncle volunteered as a football coach with the Oceanside Pop Warner Team.
