Local News

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From Staff Reporter Jennifer Sullivan

UPDATE 11 A.M.:

Police are investigating the deaths of two men inside a car in South Seattle this morning as homicides.

A source close to the investigation said it appears the men were involved in some sort of drug transaction when they were killed. Police say the two men had been shot in the head.

Just after 6 a.m., a Seattle police officer driving near 39th Avenue South and South Kenyon Street noticed broken glass on the ground next to a parked maroon Jaguar. He stopped, thinking it was a possible car break-in, said police spokesman Mark Jamieson. The officer found the two bodies in the car.

Police have been canvassing the neighborhood for possible witnesses. A woman who arrived at the scene this morning, screaming, was a relative of one of the men, the law-enforcement source said. Police have not released the names of the men killed.

Seattle police South Precinct Capt. Steve Paulsen said the shootings, near the NewHolly housing development, comes as the precinct is seeing reduced crime rates.

“We’ve been working quite a bit down there and it’s been doing really, really well.  That area is normally is very low in reported crime,” Paulsen said, adding that violent and property crime is down 16 percent in the precinct compared to a year ago.

Anyone with information about the shootings is asked to call 911.