NYPD searching for links in shopkeeper shootings

All three victims were of Middle Eastern descent, stores were within 5-mile radius

November 19, 2012 03:43 AM

This sketch released by the New York Police Department shows a man who is being sought in connection with the fatal shooting of shopkeeper Isaac Kadare at his store in the Bensonhurst neighborhood in Brooklyn.

Associated Press

NEW YORK — Police are searching for any further links in the deaths of three New York City shopkeepers who were shot by the same gun.

All three victims were of Middle Eastern descent. Their stores are within a 5-mile radius, and none of them have surveillance cameras.

The latest shooting death came Friday, when 78-year-old Rahmatollah Vahidipour was killed at his store. Police say the same gun was used in the deaths of Mohamed Gebeli in July and Isaac Kadare in August, also at their shops in Brooklyn. Authorities have said that ballistics evidence connected the weapon used in the first two deaths.

A call on Sunday to Vahidipour’s home in Great Neck, N.Y., was not answered.

Evidence Management Investigations