MORE: Investigation continues into double homicide in Middletown
“We woke up this morning and there is another car facing the opposite direction on the wrong side of the road between (a neighbor’s) two cars with the headlights on. It has been there for about an hour and I am not sure if they hit a car or not … but it is really bizarre,” the caller told dispatchers.
Police arrived at the scene about 7:15 a.m. That’s when they found the two victims, who had suffered gunshot wounds. The car rolled forward and hit at least one vehicle parked on the street, causing minor damage, according to witnesses.
Middletown police identified the victims as Dashaua Brown, 29, and Aaron Paige, 31. Both died of gunshot wounds, and their deaths were ruled homicides by the Butler County Coroner’s Office.
“Everything is at the lab and we are just waiting for them to process the evidence we were about to obtain,” said Middletown police Chief David Birk.
Birk said detectives were able to develop suspects in the fatal shooting quickly through “good police work.
Those two suspects are not from Middletown. Detectives declined to give any details about why the vehicle, suspects or the victims were in the city.
The white 2016 Hyundai in which they were found was stopped about 12:48 a.m. by Middletown police at the intersection of Grand and Marshall and Brown, and the driver was issued a warning for lack of headlights.
The caller, whom the Journal-News is not identifying for his safety because an arrest has not yet been made, said in an interview that the car had tinted windows that were rolled up, and the front doors were locked.
He said he heard nothing during the night “not a peep.”
Birk said officers were delayed getting to the scene because the call was received during a shift change, and it didn’t initially indicate there was foul play.
He noted the call did not report injured or sick people, but it was instead a call about a car crashed into another parked car.
Brown was driving the white sedan when it exited off on I-75 and turned on to Ohio 122, Birk said. The car did not have its headlights on despite the darkness of the early morning.
The officer confirmed registration of the vehicle and identities of the people inside. Birk said there was no reason to hold them.
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