Authorities on Friday identified two men who were shot in the head just minutes and blocks apart in south Minneapolis early this week.

They were identified by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner's Office as Michael L. Bell-McCalister, 23, of Minneapolis, and Timothy T. Brown, 35, of Coon Rapids.

Bell-McCalister was found shot inside a vehicle that crashed about 5:25 p.m. Monday into the porch of an apartment building near E. Franklin and S. 4th avenues, police said.

Emergency responders took him to HCMC, where he died the next day from a gunshot to the head, according to police.

About 10 minutes earlier and roughly eight blocks to the southeast, Brown was shot and killed inside an apartment building in the 2400 block of Elliot Avenue. There officers found Brown in the hallway, also with a gunshot wound to the head, according to police. He died at the scene.

No arrests have been announced as of Friday morning.

Officer Garrett Parten, Minneapolis Police Department spokesman, said Thursday afternoon that any connection between the two shootings "is being investigated."

There have been 18 homicides in Minneapolis this year, the same total at this time in the city last year, according to a Star Tribune database.