Two men were shot to death in separate locations in Lauderdale County early Sunday morning.

The first shooting occurred at about 12:40 a.m. on Russell Drive near the Highway 39 overpass in Meridian. The unidentified man was lying in the middle of the road near  a running vehicle. Coroner Clayton Cobler said the man died from a single gunshot wound to the head. His body was sent to Jackson for autopsy.

The body was lying next to a rented Chrysler 300. The vehicle’s windshield wipers were on at the time. Cobler described the victim as a black man in his 30s or 40s.

Meridian police said the man was shot in the face and the incident appears to be a robbery because the victim’s wallet was missing.

The initial investigation revealed that the victim had just left JJ’s club on Russell Drive, police said.

Meridian detectives are working the case and asked that anyone with any information call Meridian police or crime stoppers.

“This is going to be a strange case,” Cobler said Sunday morning. “There were no witnesses and rain got rid of a lot of the evidence.”

The second fatal shooting was at 2 a.m. in the county in the 9200 block of Highway 495. Cobler said the male victim was taken to Anderson Regional Medical Center, but died at approximately 3 a.m. before getting into surgery.

Cobler said the victim’s body was also taken to Jackson for autopsy.