Police have identified the two men whose bodies were found in a car in the parking lot of a Hamden apartment building in the 600 block of Mix Avenue Tuesday afternoon.
The Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in Farmington determined that Damian Connor, 23, of Hamden, and Tamar Lawrence, 19, of New Haven, died of gunshot wounds to the head and their deaths have been ruled homicides.
Someone walking in the parking lot around 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday noticed at least one person was in distress inside a car in the Broadmoor Apartments parking lot and called police, Hamden Police Chief Thomas Wydra said Tuesday.
Firefighters and EMS personnel rushed to the scene, where they found Connor and Lawrence unconscious in a blue sedan, then called police.
Police then learned that people in the area heard a sound like fireworks or gunshots on Monday night, but police were not alerted until Tuesday.
"My message to the public, at large, is that if you hear something, if you see something, please call us and say something," Wydra said. "We might have been able to commence this investigation much earlier than this afternoon."
When police were at the scene on Tuesday, the car was still running and Wydra said police believe Connor and Lawrence were there for a while.
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Police believe Connor and Lawrence were killed in the same area they were found and that the bodies weren't dumped there.
The department is going to pour all their considerable resources, possibly including the FBI and New Haven police, into the investigation into the foreseeable future, Wydra said.
Police haven't identified a suspect in the double homicide, but Wydra said Tuesday that "whoever's responsible for this act is extremely dangerous." Authorities have not said if the incident was targeted or random.
Police have not released a description of a suspect, but ask people to report anything suspicious, even if it might only seem like a small detail.
The Hamden Police Department Major Crimes Division is overseeing the investigation and asks anyone with information to call detectives at 203-4040.
Connor's family has set up a GoFundMe page to help raise money for funeral costs.
