A man died of gunshot wounds he suffered early Tuesday morning alongside southbound Interstate 95 near Abingdon, and state police linked that shooting to a nonfatal shooting that occurred around the same time.

Police got several 911 calls around 2:30 a.m. from motorists describing a pedestrian who appeared to be in distress along southbound I-95, north of the Route 24 exit, said Greg Shipley, a state police spokesman.

When troopers arrived, they found a man, later identified as 29-year-old Alan Zurita, of Havre de Grace, was still alive but suffering from gunshot wounds to the upper torso, Shipley said.

Zurita was taken to Upper Chesapeake Medical Center in Bel Air, where he died just before 4 a.m.

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Investigators discovered a second gunshot victim had been admitted to the hospital around 2:30, and they believed his shooting was related to the other, Shipley said.

“While police were there, they determined a second victim had been transported and dropped off at the hospital by an unknown subject,” Shipley said.

That victim, identified as 33-year-old Damon M. Jackson of Havre de Grace, had been shot in the leg and was undergoing treatment. His wounds were not believed to be life-threatening.

Shipley said the two men had apparently met with a third person Monday night somewhere in Harford County.

The three were traveling south on I-95 Tuesday morning when the gunman apparently pulled over, shot both men and left Zurita at the side of the road.

Investigators still have not determined a motive for the shooting, he said.

State police found a Mitsubishi Galant matching descriptions of the suspect’s vehicle in Temple Hills, Prince George’s County, Tuesday afternoon but did not find the suspect, Shipley said.

Zurita’s death marks Harford’s first homicide of 2008.

Several lanes of the highway were closed during the investigation, snarling traffic into the morning rush hour.

msantoni@baltimoreexaminer.com