” If they were shot, that wasn’t natural causes.”
Bullets constitute natural causes in Detroit, DC and few other cities. In general, the cops release almost no information on an active case if they can get away with it. This is for a variety of investigative reasons. They go talk to a suspect and if the suspect says something that has not been released in the press, then, BINGO. And, yes, suspects are often dumb as fence posts.
Quite frequently, murder victims have been threatened and have a good idea they are in danger. If I recall, the vast majority of murder victims actually know their killer.
Call it covid and case closed!