A .22 caliber handgun is the only thing people are going on to connect three different murders happening in New York City. Three business owners have been murdered in similar ways.
Through my one criminology class and, admittedly, way too much experience from watching CSI, I know that it takes three for there to be enough of a pattern to call the perpetrator a serial killer. Though while their business owner status seems to be a connection, it’s not enough for Police to take the plunge.
Now, the ballistics of the bullet casings matches with the deaths of all three business owners. So the as-of-yet unnamed female owner of the She-She Boutique, Vahidipour Rahmatollah, 78, and Mohammed Gebeli, 65, were all killed by the same gun.
It should be noted that Gebeli was also stabbed in the neck.
There are distinct similarities in the way the victims were positioned after their deaths. Law enforcement sources said each victim’s body was pulled away from the stores’ front windows and either covered by clothes or hidden by merchandise. Police don’t want to say that the killer is a serial murderer, but certainly has a serial pattern of murder.
Which… yeah, New York, you probably have a serial killer. And apparently the perp is targeting… small… business… owners? Boutique clothing purveyors? The compulsion aspect of the killer doesn’t yet seem apparent. All three victims have some Middle Eastern tie, but there’s no where close to enough evidence to suggest that’s a motive. Yet.
Paul Callan, a former deputy chief in Brooklyn, noted on CNN that he agrees with NYPD’s hesitation to call out the deaths as the work of a serial killer:
Police will resist that characterization because they will be fearful that high publicity will alert the killer and impede the investigation.
Which makes sense. So, I guess if you’re Middle Eastern and you own a boutique fashion shop in New York… maybe… take a vacation? I don’t know. But be careful out there.
