Brooklyn, NY – The NYPD has released pictures of four people who are wanted for questioning about what they might have seen in the shooting death of a Brooklyn boutique owner.
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And now, police say the same gun was used to kill two other shopkeepers, and all three crimes may be the work of a serial killer.
The four people authorities are trying to track down are not suspects, but what they may know may help catch the suspect. They were all near the She She boutique around the time shopkeeper Rahmatollah Vahidipour a devout Jew from Iran, was shot to death.
The video shows two people walking along Flatbush Avenue around 6 p.m. Friday and two others – a man and woman – seen running near the scene just 20 minutes before the 78-year-old victim was found dead.
Vahidipour’s body was reportedly dragged to the back of the store and covered with merchandise.
“I hope that they find who it is and justice be served,” one area resident said. “Because this was a good man.”
According to the Wall Street Journal, Sunday afternoon in Great Neck, mourners packed the Ahavat Shalom congregation for Mr. Rahmatollah’s funeral, a day after one of his nine grandchildren celebrated his bar mitzvah. Rabbi David Rabhan called it “happiness turned into mourning.”
Another grandson, David Shokrian, described his grandfather as a selfless, tireless worker who would do anything for his children and grandchildren. “He was never too sick, he was never too tired, he never complained, and he never thought about himself but only about everybody else,” he said.
The victim was the third Brooklyn businessman killed in his store since July, and police have now linked the same gun to all three murders. On July 6, clothing store owner Mohamed Gebeli was killed inside Valentino Fashion in Bay Ridge. On August 2, Isaac Kadare was found dead at his Amazing 99 Cents Deal shop in Bensonhurst.
While detectives try to figure out the motive, they say there are some links they are investigating.
None of the stores had surveillance cameras, and all of the victims were men of Middle Eastern descent and were over the age of 50.
Now, community activists are calling on the FBI to get involved.
“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,” State Senator Eric Adams said. “This person must be apprehended.”
Authorities are offering rewards of $22,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the three homicides.
Anyone with information about them may call the Crime Stoppers hotline in confidence at 1-800-577-TIPS.
So two of the victims were Jewish? Maybe it’s anti-semitism disguised as anti Middle-easterners?
BD”E hamokom yanachem eschem bzoch shar aveli tzion yerishulaim
I have no clue why they are looking for someone who walked on the street hours after he was murdered , the niftar was a frum yid and must have been shot way before the zman which was 4:22 , he still needed to get home to great neck which is almost a 1.5 hour drive ,
The guy on the picture looks like David axelrod!!