RICHMOND, Va. -- Two people are dead following two separate shootings in Richmond Thursday, police say.
The shootings come after Operation Safe Summer, which kicked off two months early, was off to a good start following a wave of deadly violence in April.
In May, the first 15 days were going well, until early Thursday morning and it continued into the afternoon.
People living off Overlook Street on Richmond's South Side say four loud gunshots prompted them to duck inside their homes Thursday afternoon.
"At about 3:40 pm today we got a call about shots fired,” Richmond Chief of Police Rick Edwards said. “Officers responded and found an adult male down, unconscious and not breathing. He was pronounced here on scene."
Forensics and Major Crimes detectives flood the street. Looking for evidence that's both on the ground near the man's body and also on doors in the direct vicinity.
"We need all the video..we need everyone who was out here to you know --we don't have to know who you are to tell us who they are. So call Crime Stoppers. It was broad daylight. We expect people saw this and we need that information."
Edwards says he knows scenes like this are volatile and that family members are upset, however, he urges those to refrain from vigilante justice, adding that detectives are working as fast as they can on the city's two latest homicides.
The first happened at around 12:50 Thursday morning on the 3600 block of Midlothian Turnpike, and the second on Overlook Street less than 24 hours later.
"We obviously want to see if they are connected..we have the ability to check ballistics to see if the same gun was used pretty rapidly. At this point, we don't have information that they are related," Edwards said. "We may have information about a suspect vehicle later but we are still vetting that and may have more to add."
If you have any information on this shooting, police ask you to call Major Crimes Detective P. Mansfield at (804) 646-6996 or contact Crime Stoppers at (804) 780-1000.
This is a developing story, so anyone with more information can email newstips@wtvr.com to send a tip.
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