The Ottawa police major crime unit is investigating the city's seventh and eighth homicides of the year after two men were found shot to death Monday, one near Elmhurst Park and another in a parked car near the Ottawa River.

A third man was also shot and was considered to be in critical condition later Monday.

2 of 3 incidents linked so far

Early Monday morning, around 7:10 a.m., a man with multiple gunshot wounds arrived at the Queensway Carleton Hospital, according to police.

While officers were investigating that first shooting in the Elmhurst Park area between Alpine Avenue and Tavistock Road — not far from Lincoln Fields Shopping Centre — the body of a man was discovered nearby.

A body was found lying on a residential driveway along Tavistock Road Monday morning, and Ottawa police are investigating. (Andrew Foote/CBC)

According to police, the body was found around 8:45 a.m. He was lying next to a van on a residential driveway on Tavistock Road near Elmhurst Street, and had been shot to death.

Police believe the man's death is linked to the shooting that left the other man in critical condition.

2nd dead body found in parked car

Later in the day, shortly after 12:30 p.m., police were called to the intersection of Aylen and Wayne avenues, between Richmond Road and the Sir John A. Macdonald Parkway, after residents reported an abandoned car with its engine still running.

View a map of the two scenes here

When police arrived they found a dead man inside the vehicle. He had been shot and was pronounced dead at the scene.

Insp. John McGetrick told reporters at the crime scene that the car had been there for "quite some time."

It's unclear whether the second death in the parked vehicle is related to the two other Monday shootings.

Victims known to police

"A day like this is quite horrific," McGetrick said. "A terrible day for the community and a more terrible day for the families involved."

But police Chief Charles Bordeleau said there is no concern for public safety.

"We believe that these incidents were targeted," Bordeleau said at an Ottawa Police Services Board meeting Monday afternoon, adding that the victims were known to police.

No arrests have been made.

'It sounded close'

Kevin Daly, who lives in the Elmhurst Park area, said he and his wife heard "two pops" just before 7 a.m.

"We were just having our coffee. I thought it was a power line popping because it happens a lot with these power lines hitting the trees," Daly said in an interview from the scene.

"It was two pops. They were about a couple minutes apart. It sounded close. I didn't think anything of it, I actually thought it was the power lines being hit."

Anyone with information is asked to call police at 613-236-1222. Anonymous tips can be passed on through Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS).