Police say two New York City men found dead after a BMW flipped over in Mount Vernon had been shot before the crash.
The police commissioner says Wednesday's crash, originally thought to be a high-speed accident, is being investigated as a homicide.
Police identified the driver as 27-year-old Allashun Clay of Manhattan and the passenger as 26-year-old Kevin Shaw of the Bronx. Shaw was a former assistant basketball coach at Concordia College.
Both men had been shot in their "upper extremities," according to the police commissioner. The medical examiner is trying to establish whether the gunshots or the crash killed them.
The crash happened just off the Hutchinson River Parkway at 4:45 a.m. The BMW convertible struck a parked SUV and landed upside down.
A neighbor who only gave her name as Martha said she saw the crash from her balcony but didn't hear any gunshots. It was clear something was wrong inside the BMW, she said.
"It hit the parked car and then it just spin around and flew in the air," she said.
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The current basketball coach at Concordia, where Shaw coached for the 2010-11 season, said his former players are devastated.
Shaw also coached the New York Gauchos, an elite amateur basketball program for New York City players, in 2009 and 2010.
Police are asking anyone with information on the crash or the victims' whereabouts before the crash to contact them as they investigate.
