Cops: Two dead in separate house parties

Two men were fatally shot in front of separate Suffolk house parties that were given for 13-year-olds, hours apart during the weekend, police said.

In the first instance, police responded at 10:10 p.m. Saturday to reports of shots fired in the area of a Yarnell Street home in Brentwood.

They found Douglas Martinez, 27, of Bay Shore, lying in the front yard of the home with multiple gunshot wounds.

Martinez was transported to Southside Hospital in Bay Shore, where he died.

Several hours later, police went to a Centerwood Street home in West Babylon at 1:30 a.m. Sunday after having received reports of shots fired in the area and of a man lying in the street.

There, police found Rashad Capers, 18, of West Babylon in the street. Police said Capers had been shot nearby, in front of a St. Johns Place house.

Capers was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital Medical Center in West Islip, where he died.

The men were both attending separate house parties given for 13-year-olds, police said.

Det. Lt. Jack Fitzpatrick, commanding officer of the Suffolk police Homicide Squad, said police did not know of any altercations before either of the shootings, but said there was a possible gang connection in the Brentwood case.

Family members of the victims could not be reached for comment last night.

Capers was to be sentenced in October on a third-degree robbery conviction, relating to a 2011 incident, records show.

Police ask anyone with information on either case to contact the Homicide Squad at 631-852-6392 or Crime Stoppers anonymously at 800-220-TIPS. Calls will remain confidential.

With Paul LaRocco