Times Staff Report

Harvey police on Monday were investigating two deaths as homicides, both of which happened Sunday in separate incidents.

On Sunday morning, Harvey police responded to a call of shots fired near 156th Street and Loomis Avenue, city spokeswoman Sandra Alvarado said in written statement.

Responding officers found a male gunshot victim who was later pronounced dead, Alvarado said.

"Due to the reassignment of police personnel, which has led to increased police presence, a male subject of interest is being questioned by Harvey police," Alvarado said in the statement. "The male subject was discovered fleeing the scene with a loaded weapon."

On Sunday afternoon, Harvey police were called to Ingalls Memorial Hospital about 4 p.m. after receiving reports about a Hispanic male with a gunshot wound who was brought to the hospital by a fellow Hispanic male, Alvarado said.

The victim was later pronounced dead.

"While the location or city in which the incident occurred is currently undetermined, the Harvey Police Department is investigating the matter," Alvarado said. "No further comment is available."

Alvarado said it's not the department's policy to release the names of victims.

Calls to the Cook County medical examiner were not returned as of Monday evening.

The homicides, which mark the fourth and possibly fifth murders in 2007 for the city of 30,000, come less than two weeks after records and evidence were seized from the Harvey Police Department as part of an ongoing investigation by the Cook County state's attorney's office. The investigation began in August after reports surfaced about a gun that disappeared while in police possession.

A former Harvey police detective faces several charges in connection with that case.

Cook County and state investigators with a subpoena worked for about four hours Jan. 24, gathering records and other evidence particularly relating to unsolved murders.

At least 37 of the 52 murders in the city during the past four years remain unsolved.

Three days after the state intervention, 23-year-old Brian Barry was charged with murder after investigators said he shot a man in the head after a dice game last winter in Harvey.