Chicago ? Police were pursuing murder charges Friday against seven gang members in the beating deaths of two men who were dragged from a van after an accident.

Chief of Detectives Phil Cline said the suspects, ages 16 to 57, were identified by witnesses who came forward after community leaders went door-to-door, urging cooperation with investigators.

Police said they were seeking first-degree murder charges and had turned the case over to the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office. A spokesman for the office said the case was under review.

Authorities said two of the suspects were relatives of one of the women struck by the van. Names of the suspects, all of whom have criminal backgrounds, won’t be released until charges are filed, police said.

Cline said fingerprints from two suspects were found on the van. “We’re very satisfied that we have a strong case here,” he said, adding that the investigation was continuing.

Sources said there are three important witnesses that police are relying on including a juvenile and an off-duty Cook County sheriff’s employee who said he tried to intervene and break up the melee, according to one source close to the investigation.

Cline would not detail what suspects told police but said they gave statements that put them at the scene.

Detectives have been working the case around the clock, sorting through the stories of witnesses and coaxing some reluctant neighbors in the Oakland community into telling what they knew.

Police Supt. Terry Hillard praised residents who agreed to help in the investigation. “Numerous and courageous individuals from that neighborhood have shown they have the strength and character to do what’s right,” he said.

At least 100 people watched as Anthony Stuckey, 49, and Jack Moore, 62, were kicked and beaten with bricks and stones by an angry mob on Tuesday night, according to witnesses.

Moore, the van’s driver, was legally drunk when the van jumped a curb and plowed into three people, but police said that would have no bearing on their hunt for suspects in the fatal beating.

“I believe it was just a mob mentality that took over there and they just broke the windows of the car, dragged these two individuals out and beat them to death,” Cline said. “It’s a double homicide. … It’s a crime.”

Both men lived in the close-knit neighborhood on the city’s south side.

Janet Jenkins, a cousin of Moore’s, said charges would give the family some satisfaction: “It wouldn’t bring Jack back, but I feel justice would be done.”

Community activists organized a door-to-door canvass Thursday for witnesses. They also put fliers on cars that declared: “We need your help!! We need witnesses to contact police (confidentially) to help catch the murderers of Anthony Stuckey and Jack Moore.”