A Great Neck man was murdered at his Brooklyn storefront Friday, the latest in a string of three killings that the New York Police Department says are linked to the same gun.
Rahmatollah Vahidipour, 78, was found dead in She-She Boutique, the fashion store run by Vahidipour in Brooklyn’s Prospect Park neighborhood.
Vahidipour suffered fatal gunshot wounds between 4:30 p.m. and 7:11 p.m., when his body was discovered, according to an NYPD press release.
And following ballistics testing, police matched the .22 caliber shell casings found at the scene to two similar murders earlier this summer.
Police found Mohamed Gabeli, 65, unconscious on the floor of his Bay Ridge store Valentino Fashion the night of July 6. Emergency responders brought Gabeli to Lutheran Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
And Isaac Kadare, 59, was killed in 99 Cent and Up Deals, his Bensonhurst discount store, on Aug. 2.
Police have not put forth a motive or identified any suspects in the killings, but all three shopkeepers were of Middle Eastern backgrounds – a fact that led state Sen. Eric Adams (D-Brooklyn) to suggest the murders were motivated by ethnic hatred.
“We don’t want the city to be engulfed in fear based on the actions of a potential serial killer who appears to be targeting men of Middle Eastern descent,” Adams said to ABC News. “This person must be apprehended.”
Police announced Monday they had not uncovered evidence that the murders were bias crimes, but officers from the NYPD Hate Crimes Task Force were assisting the investigation.
The murders have other similarities, according to media reports. All the victims were over 50 years old, the crimes took place within a five-mile radius and none of the shops had security cameras.
Police were searching for four people who were captured by outdoor video surveillance near the scene Friday evening.
Though the four are not classified as suspects, police indicate they could have witnessed events related to the murder because of their proximity to the crime scene.
Cameras recorded a black woman in a green jacket running southbound on Flatbush Avenue after a black man in a jacket about half a block from the store, according to the NYPD. The jacket was later found discarded in a nearby garbage can.
A white man with a duffle bag was observed walking northbound on Flatbush Avenue at about 6 p.m. near the store. A black woman wearing glasses, a scarf and a long coat was also taped in the same area shortly after 6 p.m.
Reach reporter Dan Glaun by e-mail at dglaun@theislandnow.com or by phone at 516.307.1045 x203. Also follow us on Twitter @theislandnow1 and Facebook at facebook.com/theislandnow.
