2 Men Shot, Killed at Anaheim Cemetery : Crime: The victims apparently were visiting a grave at Melrose Abbey. Witnesses say they saw two armed men running from the scene. The attackers remain at large, and the motive is unknown.

Two men apparently visiting a grave at Melrose Abbey Cemetery were shot several times and killed Wednesday afternoon, and their attackers remain at large.

The victims, both in their early to mid-20s, were not immediately identified.

Police received reports of several gunshots fired at 4:48 p.m. at 2303 S. Manchester Ave., southwest of Anaheim Stadium, Lt. John Cross said. Witnesses told police they saw two men, both apparently armed with handguns, running from the graveyard after the shooting.

More than 10 officers converged on the cemetery, but police called the search off about 6:30 p.m.

Information about the killings was sketchy.

“We don’t have a motive yet,” Officer Joe Karns said. “All we got is two bodies in the graveyard.” Witnesses did not report hearing an argument before the shooting, police said. So far, there is no indication this was a gang shooting, they said.

Karns said police heard conflicting versions of events. Initially, he said, officers responded to a report of “multiple gunshots” at Melrose Abbey and were told “there were several people seen running through the graveyard.”

Although those people were at first thought to be suspects, “we later determined most of those were the Abbey’s employees running for cover,” Karns said.

Abbey employees said police had asked them not to speak to reporters.

The victims’ bodies remained on the grass until 9 p.m. Wednesday, as police investigated the scene. One man wore burgundy pants with black shoes, the other wore khaki pants with black shoes. Near them was a grave site decorated with pots of yellow flowers.

At the Ponderosa Travel Trailer Park about 150 yards from the site of the shootings, several residents said they heard the shooting.

“I heard a lot of popping. Bang, bang, bang,” said Richard Young, a trailer park resident.

At first, Young said, he thought the popping was from firecrackers. Some grave-site ceremonies have included firecrackers, he said.

But then he went to the wall that separates the trailer park and the graveyard and saw police and paramedics on the grounds.

Young estimated he heard from nine to 11 shots in all.

His neighbor, Hugh Gill, said he was inside his motor home when he, too, heard popping noises from the cemetery.

“There were five real quick and then a little hesitation and then two more,” Gill said.

Anaheim police noted that at the time of the shooting, there was activity in the mortuary--mourners viewing a body.

Sgt. Chet Berry said officers were still trying to determine if the men who were slain had been with those other mourners or had just gone by themselves to visit a grave site.

Berry said the grave where the shooting occurred was two years old, but he declined to identify who was buried there because that person may be related to one or both of the men who were killed.

Correspondent Terry Spencer contributed to this story.