CRANSTON –– The police arrested a Daisy Court man they suspect of shooting and killing his next-door neighbor yesterday afternoon.

Neighbors said the man who was shot had been hosting a birthday party for one of his children at the time, according to the Associated Press.

Cranston Police Chief Col. Stephen C. McGrath declined to name the alleged shooter last night, with the investigation still unfolding.

And he refused to name the victim, pending notification of a large extended family.

But neighbors identified the deceased as James A. Pagano, a Cranston firefighter with a wife and two children.

“He was a firefighter, nice man,” said Paul Gebhart, 51, an engineer who lives down the street from Pagano. “Our son played with their son.”

McGrath said the shooting took place at about 3:15 p.m. at the alleged shooter’s house, 16 Daisy Court.

Pagano was hosting a party at his own house at 10 Daisy Court, according to neighbors, and it was unclear how he wound up next door.

McGrath said the police, who received a flood of calls from neighbors, arrested the alleged shooter without incident.

Last night, the department was still collecting evidence and interviewing witnesses. A man who answered the phone at the Paganos’ home declined to comment.

Gebhart, the neighbor, said he was stunned.

“Quiet little neighborhood,” he said. “Not so quiet anymore.”

dscharfe@projo.com