Bridgeport police have added extra patrols to two city neighborhoods after deadly shootings in each on Monday. The two homicides happened seven hours and a couple miles apart but are not connected, according to police.

Chief Roderick Porter and Mayor Joe Ganim held a news conference Tuesday afternoon to address the community about the violence.

“Having two in such close proximity, we just felt the need to get out and do this,” said Porter, who pledged transparency with the public when he took office two months ago. Porter said it was important to share as much information as he could with the community.

The first shooting happened around 2:20 p.m. Monday in the 900 block of Williams Street. Police responded and found the victim in a parking lot behind the condo complex. One witness told News 12 the victim was sitting in a car at the time of the shooting. Police said Tyheem Scales, 26, of Naugatuck, was taken to the hospital but pronounced dead on arrival.

Then at 8:55 p.m. police were called to another shooting scene, about two miles south of the first, at Trumbull Gardens. They said Tyeshon King, 35, of Bridgeport, was shot several times in a parking lot in the 600 block of Trumbull Avenue.

Porter said police do not believe there’s a threat to the community-at-large in each case. Though they don’t appear to be linked, both shootings were targeted, according to Porter.

“We believe these are specific to these individuals and/or their actions,” Porter stated, adding there will be an added police presence through the week to make people living there feel safer.

“This department is working round-the-clock literally on the investigative aspects of this,” said Mayor Joe Ganim. “Public safety is a top priority of this city.”

Porter said the department’s close rate with homicides is high, so he expects his detectives will make arrests. He added that a key resource for them is help from the community. He encouraged people to use the anonymous tip line at 203-576-TIPS.

“That's a vital component to helping us solve these crimes in a timely manner,” Porter said.

State Sen. Herron Gaston, who represents Bridgeport at the capital, also joined the mayor and chief. Gaston chairs the public safety committee and said he's fighting for funding to offer more services, support and opportunities to young people.

“As a minister and pastor, I’ve had to bury far too many young people in this community, and stand alongside grieving parents,” Gaston recalled. “It is not just injurious to the parents, but it is also injury you do to a community.”

Porter also said police are proactively addressing gun violence in the city with some new initiatives, but he declined to detail those.

So far this year, there have been five shootings where someone was hit, two of them deadly, according to police. Last year at this time, there had been 13 shootings including two deaths.

Monday’s homicides were the second and third of 2023 in Bridgeport. The first homicide of the year was the result of blunt force trauma.