The first man was shot in East Baltimore and died shortly after his friends brought him to the hospital. A second man was shot several times while standing with a group of people. And a third was found dead, slumped over the steering wheel of a car in Northeast Baltimore.

Within a 24-hour period, three men were slain, elevating the city's homicide total to 157 since Jan. 1. Police, who are still investigating the shootings, do not believe the homicides are related.

Police responded to the first shooting at 9 p.m. Saturday. When officers arrived at the 1000 block of Granby St., they could not locate the victim. Officers eventually found him at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Paul Cornish, 28, address unknown, was shot while standing with friends, police said.

An unknown male riding a bicycle approached the group, pulled out a handgun and shot Cornish, said Agent Donny Moses, a police spokesman.

Cornish's friends drove him to the hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 10:30 p.m. Saturday.

Early Sunday, police found the body of the second victim, an unidentified man, in the 800 block of N. Patterson Park Ave.

Witnesses told police that the man was standing with a group of people about 2:30 a.m. when another man approached him from behind and shot him in the head. When the victim fell to the ground, the gunman stood over him and continued to shoot.

The gunman ran to a small, silver car that was waiting nearby and fled, witnesses told police. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene, Moses said.

At 7:20 a.m. yesterday, police discovered the body of an unidentified man hunched over the steering wheel of a car in the 4800 block of Herring Run Drive. Police said it appeared the man had died of a gunshot wound. The car was still running when police discovered the body.