The police and witnesses said the men, who fled, were apparently involved in a drug dispute.

The lieutenant did not rule out revenge or a drug dispute.

It is believed that he inadvertently interrupted a drug dispute.

The police said the blaze had apparently been set after a drug dispute involving a restaurant patron.

Violence resulting from drug disputes is also said to be increasing.

He killed sometimes out of revenge, other times in drug disputes, the police said.

Often, he said, the people were involved in domestic relationships or drug disputes.

The older daughter, once shot in a drug dispute, hates drugs and speaks against them.

In a single week last month, at least six people were gunned down in various drug disputes.

Another man was shot eight times in March in a drug dispute a few hundred yards away but survived.