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By Thomas Tracy
Brooklyn Daily
The gunman who shot and killed a 78-year-old Flatbush shopkeeper on Nov. 16 is the same man who murdered two Southern Brooklyn merchants earlier this year, investigators confirmed today.
Ballistic tests completed this morning confirmed that the gun used in the murder of Vahidipour Rahmatollah was used in two other killings in Southern Brooklyn earlier this year.
“It was a positive match to those recovered at the two other crime scenes this past summer,” NYPD spokesman Paul Browne said in a statement.
Cops were dispatched to She She Inc., a woman’s clothing store on Flatbush Avenue near Linden Boulevard, at 7:17 pm after Rahmatollah was found dead inside his store.
The senior had been shot in the head — a killing that quickly brought back memories of the slaying of Isaac Kadare, 59, who was killed inside his 86th Street 99-Cent store near 19th Avenue in August.
An autopsy revealed that Kadare had died from a bullet to the skull — a bullet fired from the same .22-caliber gun that killed Bay Ridge clothing merchant Mohammed Gebeli a month earlier. Gebeli had been shot in the neck, police sources say.
Detectives had put together a sketch of the man they believe killed Kadare and Gebeli, and had a line on two possible witnesses to the crime, yet no one has been charged with the two murders.
Police sources say that Rahmatollah had been shot behind the counter, dragged about 10 feet and covered up with items from the store — the same way that one of the two earlier victims had been found.
Cops are currently offering a $22,000 reward for any information leading to the arrest and indictment of the suspect.
Anyone with information regarding these three murders is urged to contact the NYPD CrimeStoppers hotline at (800) 577-8477. All calls will be kept confidential.
Reach Deputy Editor Thomas Tracy at ttracy@cnglocal.com or by calling (718) 260-2525.