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GREENSBORO — Police can't yet say whether two drive-by shootings Tuesday night near Hampton Homes are gang-related.

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But even if not gang-related, the shootings are likely not random.

"It's very rare you just have a stray drive-by shooting," said Capt. Janice Rogers, commander of the criminal investigation division. "Usually there is some rivalry or dispute between two parties that has led to the shooting."

The first part of 2008 has seen nearly twice the number of drive-by shootings as the same period last year and more than any of the past three years, according to police data.

Since Jan. 1, police have responded to 27 offenses of shooting into an occupied dwelling, the charge most often associated with drive-by shootings in which no one is injured, said Nonnie Olig-mueller, a department crime analyst.

The same period saw 15 similar offenses in 2007, 22 in 2006 and 10 in 2005.

The annual number of such shootings has increased from 51 in 2005 to 80 in 2007.

Drive-by shootings involving injuries are recorded as "aggravated assault." But that crime is also associated with shootings under many other circumstances, so information on drive-by shootings involving injuries was not available Wednesday.

None of the victims in Tuesday's shootings appear to be gang members, Rogers said.

Police identified two adult victims Wednesday.

Ethan Epps, 27, of Greensboro, and Patricia Hopkins, 44, of Greensboro, were injured near the 1300 block of Ogden Street when someone opened fire from a green sedan.

Three teenagers were injured about two hours earlier on Tuesday blocks away on Burbank Street near Rugby Street.

Witnesses gave a similar vehicle description but police have no suspects.

Rogers said it did not appear the shootings were connected to a December fight that started in Hampton Homes and continued the next day at Grimsley High School.

The fight led to 14 students being suspended and 21 students being arrested on criminal charges.

Police ask anyone with information about Tuesday's shootings to call Crime Stoppers at 373-1000.

Contact Sonja Elmquist at 373-7090 or sonja.elmquist@news-record.com