2 Bodies Found in Belmont Shore

LONG BEACH, CA -- The bodies of a man and a woman were found Monday in the same general area in Long Beach, but there was no apparent connection between the two deaths, police said.

The man's nude body was found on the beach at the waterline near the 5400 block of East Ocean Boulevard at 5:50 a.m., the Long Beach Police Department reported.

"The deceased individual on the beach is a male adult with an apparent gunshot wound to the upper torso," said Long Beach police Sgt. Brad Johnson.

The man, who appeared to have been in his 40s, apparently died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, said Nancy Pratt, also of the Long Beach Police Department.

"While conducting their investigation, officers discovered a second dead body inside of a parked SUV nearby," Johnson said.

The second body was that of a woman, also apparently in her 40s, who died of apparent natural causes, Pratt said. Their names were withheld pending family notification.

Police searched the beach and the water near the shoreline for a weapon, but none had been found as of early this afternoon, Pratt said.

-- City News Service, photo credit: Renee Schiavone