One man was killed, another was wounded and bullets struck an automobile Tuesday in three separate incidents in which shots were fired at cars in and near the Petworth area of the District.

It was not clear if any of the incidents were related, or if their seeming similarity was more than coincidence.

The homicide occurred about 6 p.m. in the 900 block of Delafield Place NW. A man was found fatally shot in a vehicle, D.C. police said. One neighbor said it appeared that the car was double parked. It was not known if the occupant was driving and stopped after the shots were fired.

Earlier, police said, a man was in a car near 9th and Jefferson Streets NW, about one half mile to the north of Delafield Place, when he heard shots. After leaving the area he found that his car had been struck, police said.

A few minutes after the Jefferson Street incident, a man sitting in his car in the 1200 block of Ingraham Street was approached by four people, and two or three began shooting into the vehicle, police said.

They said the occupant of the car was hit in the legs, and taken to a hospital where his condition was reported as stable.

In the same general area earlier this month a child was wounded when shots were fired into a house in the 4600 block of 9th Street NW. The next day robbers shot a man was shot a few blocks away in an alley on Emerson Street.