RICHMOND (BCN)--Law enforcement officers in Richmond are beefing up patrols  throughout the city in the wake of two fatal shootings there over the past  week, a police lieutenant said today.

     

The increased patrols come after a drive-by shooting in  unincorporated North Richmond Monday that killed 22-year-old Orlando Yancy  and a shooting in central Richmond Wednesday morning that left 27-year-old  Richmond resident Donald Washington dead, Lt. Bisa French said.

     

French said Richmond residents can expect a heightened police  presence in some neighborhoods through the weekend, if not longer.

     

Richmond police are working with the Contra Costa County Sheriff's  Office, which has jurisdiction over North Richmond, to investigate whether  the two slayings are related, since North and Central Richmond are home to  long-time rival gangs, French said.

     

"We haven't definitively tied (the shootings) together," she said.

     

Washington's murder marks Richmond's eighth homicide this year,  while Yancy's death is the second murder reported in North Richmond in 2012,  according to police.

     

No suspects have been found in either of the murders.

 

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