2 shot execution-style in car stereo store

PHILADELPHIA, Sept. 2 (UPI) -- Two men, one of them charged with participating in a drug paraphernalia ring, were found early Tuesday shot execution-style in a Philadelphia car stereo store.

Investigators said the 5th Street Car Stereo store appeared to be a front for dealing in paraphernalia, Fox29 in Philadelphia reported. They found bottles with false bottoms and a book with a hollowed out compartment inside.

The bodies were in a bedroom over the store, Capt. James Clarke of the police homicide unit said. The store had been ransacked.

"They were looking for something. We don't know what they were looking for," Clarke said. "We believe they took some items from the store. At this point, like I said, the investigation is still very early, so we don't know exactly what they took."

Clarke called the killings "an assassination." He said both men had been tied hand and foot with duct tape and shot in the head.

Police went to the store after receiving a report of a robbery.

One of the victims was charged in Montgomery County outside Philadelphia with being a member of a national organization distributing paraphernalia, Fox29 said. He was free on $500,000 bail.