GULFPORT (AP) — A man and a woman have died on the Mississippi Gulf Coast after a police chief says they were the targets of a “violent attack.”

Local media report that 31-year-old Maxwell Phillips of Gulfport and 18-year-old Brooklyn Alsobrooke of Sweeny, Texas, were shot dead just after midnight.

Gulfport Police Chief Leonard Papania says investigators believe the couple was targeted, although he says police are still investigating the motive behind the attack.

Neighbor Todd King says he saw two men in black running from the duplex where the couple lived together after hearing a rapid sequence of gunshots.

Phillips had previously been arrested on charges of human trafficking, with one alleged victim a 17-year-old girl from Sweeny, Texas. Papania says there’s no evidence right now suggesting a connection with the killings.