The NY Daily News reports: The bullet found lodged in the head of a Brooklyn shopkeeper was linked to the same gun used in the killing of another store owner a month before, the Daily News has learned.
Investigators determined that the .22-caliber slug that killed Isaac Kadare, 59, inside his Amazing 99 Cent Deals shop in Bensonhurst was fired from the same pistol that killed another merchant just two miles away, police said.
Kadare, a devout Jew who was born in Egypt, was found by a friend when he noticed the 86th St. store still open after hours about 8:30 p.m. Thursday, cops said.
Investigators later ruled his death a homicide after they determined he had been shot in the head and stabbed in the neck, authorities said.
The bullet that killed him is believed to be fired from the same gun used to kill Mohammed Gebeli, 65, who was found dead inside Valentino Fashion Inc. about 11:30 p.m. on July 6, cops said.
When asked about the new development in the case, NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said that cops have evidence to indicate the same suspect killed both men.
“In both cases the bodies were found in the aisles of the store and covered in certain ways,” Browne said.
Browne said investigators are also looking at the similarities between the addresses of each store.
Kadare’s store was located at 1877 86th St. and Gebeli’s store address was 7718 Fifth Ave.
Witnesses told police that they saw a disturbed man near Kadare’s store around the same time his body was found.
Cops were told the man, who stands about 5-foot-5 and weighs about 140 pounds, walked into Kadare’s store wearing a ski mask, holding a gun and a knife.
A witness said the suspect bumped into him and barked “What are you looking at?” before he fled into a nearby Mexican bakery, cops said. Soon after that he was seen getting into a black or gray, two-door jeep.
One witness believed the suspect was disturbed as he was spotted wearing headphones and may have been talking to himself.
“He was talking about putting a bullet in someone’s head,” Browne said one witness recalled.
Cops were still trying to put together a possible motive. In both cases, investigators believe money was taken by the victims – but it’s still not clear if robbery was the intent behind the killings, sources said.
Browne said that several cops have been deployed to patrol the streets in a cluster of neighborhoods near the two murders.
The officers “will be going store to store” with a sketch of the suspect to try and identify the suspect and warn people to keep an eye out for him.
Source: THE NY DAILY NEWS
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