Police: 2 men found slain in a Harrowgate house's dining room

TWO MEN WERE gunned down inside a Harrowgate home yesterday, police said, slain in cold blood mere feet from where one victim's family eats its meals.

Last night, that family filed back into the home as the streetlamps clicked on over Jasper Street near Pacific. The aunt of the man who lived there declined to comment and didn't wish to disclose his name.

Police provided only his age, 20. It was more than they knew last night about the other victim, a man whom they hadn't identified but whom they estimated to be in his late 20s or early 30s.

A neighbor called 9-1-1 about 3 p.m. after having trouble reaching the 20-year-old, according to Chief Inspector Scott Small. When patrol officers arrived, they found the front door locked, and their knocking went unanswered.

They eventually gained entry through an open window, making the grisly discovery on the home's first floor.

Both men were lying facedown in the bloodstained dining room, Small said. They had been shot in the head at point-blank range, and nine shell casings littered the floor around them.

Medics pronounced them dead there minutes later, Small said.

Last night, Homicide Unit detectives were working to figure out what had sparked the violent killings. Small said there were no signs of forced entry in the home, nor any signs of struggle: The house was "clean and orderly," he said.

It was unclear how long the two had been lying dead on the floor. A man who lives next door to the property, who didn't wish to be named, said he had heard no commotion or gunfire. His first knowledge of the killings was when police pulled up to the block yesterday afternoon, he said.

Shannon Farrell, president of the Harrowgate Civic Association, was in her basement on Emerald Street about two blocks away when domelights started flashing on Jasper Street.

Violence isn't uncommon in the Harrowgate section of Kensington, she said. Neither is murder. Both are on the rise in her slice of the city, and she said drugs are to blame.

"There are a lot of families who are afraid," said Farrell. "Some people can't even sweep up trash because dealers are using litter to hide their drugs."

The two men were the 248th and 249th homicide victims in the city this year, eclipsing 2014's year-end total with another month to go.

Tipsters should call 215-686-8477.

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