Police were searching for answers Sunday after three men were found shot to death outside a southern Louisville apartment complex in one of Louisville's deadliest shootings this year.
Called to the 3500 Block of Georgetown Place off Berry Boulevard shortly before 3 p.m., police found three black males who appeared to be in their 20s dead in the parking lot - two inside a Ford Explorer and another on the ground just outside the vehicle.
Police did not identify the victims Sunday, but homicide detectives were canvassing the area in hopes of determining a motive - whether a robbery was involved, or whether the men shot each other or were killed by other assailants. No arrests had been made Sunday afternoon.
"Specifically what occurred to lead up to his incident, we're still trying to determine," said Louisville Metro Police spokeswoman Alicia Smiley.
Authorities said they were not sure if the men were residents of the apartment complex, a collection of brick buildings located on a side street near Classic Liquors and the Foxy Lady gentlemen's club. At the apartment building, evidence technicians could be seen working under a tent in the rain.
Several people who said they are relatives of one of the deceased men gathered in the liquor store parking lot near police tape. Speaking only briefly as cold rain fell, Denise Person, who said one of the men was her nephew, was baffled and saddened.
"I found out from my son that my nephew had got shot," she said. "He was a giving person, a good person, and he loved his family."
Speaking later by phone, Person said she spoke to people who lived around the complex who told her that her nephew was inside an apartment - likely that of his girlfriend, who lived there, she said - and was called out by a horn. No one is sure what happened after, she said.
"The guys blew the horn to come out, and after that I don't know who shot who or what," she said.
William Tandy, who said the same victim was his cousin, speculated that perhaps a robbery led to the shooting but was also searching for answers.
Police said the shooting marked one of the deadliest such incidents in 2013, and follows a year that included the high-profile shootings in May of 2012, when in a period of less than two hours, six people were shot and three killed near 32nd Street in the Parkland neighborhood.
That prompted the city to appoint a Violence Prevention Work Group to examine the causes of violence, and some members said Sunday that the latest killings should highlight the need to continue to look for solutions.
"People think of west Louisville when they think of violence, but there is also a violent crime problem in southwestern and south-central Louisville," said community activist Christopher 2X, who served on the task force. "If anyone's looking for an easy solution, it's a real uphill climb."
Homicides in Jefferson County soared 28 percent in 2012, claiming 69 victims, the first increase since 2007 and a grim reflection of a violent span that saw the high-profile triple shooting in May and three deaths around the Christmas holiday.
Smiley said residents with information about the shooting are requested to call police at 574-LMPD.