A New York City boutique owner was fatally shot in the head with the same gun that killed two other shopkeepers over the summer.
The shop owner was behind the counter of She She in Brooklyn’s Flatbush section when he was shot Friday night, The Daily News reported. The gunman dragged his body toward the back of the store and covered it with clothing, the newspaper reported.
Police have identified the victim as 78-year-old Rahmatollah Vahidipour of Great Neck on Long Island. He suffered gunshot wounds to the head and torso, police said.
“He was quiet and worked hard,” said Leon Nwabueze, who owns the Nanso clothing shop across the street from the victim’s store.
Richard Vinson, 63, who has lived next door to the boutique for four years, called the victim “a very nice gentleman.”
“He was a hardworking man; he’d open the store early in the morning and he’d still be there until 7:30, 8 o’clock in the evening,” Vinson told reporters.
Nwabueze said Vahidipour closed his store each Saturday to observe the Jewish Sabbath.
No one has been arrested in the three shootings, which happened in a 5-mile radius. Police say they don’t know the motive behind any of the killings.
None of the targeted shops had surveillance cameras, according to published reports.
On July 6, clothing store owner Mohamed Gebeli was killed inside Valentino Fashion in Bay Ridge. On Aug. 2, Isaac Kadare was found dead at his Amazing 99 Cents Deal shop in Bensonhurst.
Authorities are offering rewards of $22,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the three homicides.
(AP)
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3 Responses
How do they know that it was the same gun if the gun was never retrieved? The bullets may be the same, and the gun may be the same model as the one in the other shootings, but how would they know that it’s the same exact gun?
Not sure where u got your detective skills to question the police ballistics . For the record every gun leaves a distinct powder mark on the bullet so yes they can figure out if its from the same gun.
From HowStuffWorks.com
nterior Ballistics
A firearm such as a rifle, pistol, or artillery piece fires a projectile as a result of the burning of its propellant, which usually is smokeless powder. When the powder is ignited, large quantities of gases are produced. These gases force the projectile through the barrel in much the same way that children blow peas from a pea-shooter. If the gas pressure is too small, the bullet or shell will not reach its target. If the pressure is too great the gun may blow up. Also, if the pressure changes with each shot, the velocity of the projectile will change and accuracy will be poor. How to regulate this pressure is one of the most important problems in interior ballistics.
Almost all types of firearms (except for shotguns and rocket launchers) have spiral grooves on the inside of their barrels. These grooves are called rifling. The depth, diameter, and number of turns vary in different weapons and differ slightly with each separate weapon of the same type. When a pistol or rifle is fired, the bullet’s metal fills into the grooves. Irregularities, some visible only through a microscope, leave markings on the bullet. These markings help ballistic experts determine which weapon fired a given bullet, since all bullets from the same gun have similar markings. This type of investigation is useful in police work.