Brooklyn Jews Gunned Down by Same Killer

Image by NYPD
New York police released a security video of a potential suspect in the killings of three Brooklyn shopkeepers, two of whom were Jews.
The video depicts a ‘person of interest’ in the murders, which investigators believe were carried out with the same .22-caliber weapon.
Police have dubbed the man ‘John Doe Duffle Bag.’ The FBI has also joined the probe.
Two of three Brooklyn shop owners gunned down in the last four months were observant Jewish immigrants from the Middle East, and police reportedly think the same killer is responsible for the slayings.
The latest victim of gunman dubbed “the .22 caliber killer” was found dead inside his Flatbush store on Friday evening. Rahmatolla Vahidipour, 78, “a devout Jew from Iran,” was planning to attend the bar mitzvah of one of his nine grandchildren on Saturday, the New York Daily News reported.
The gunman left what has become a calling card: Shell casings that police have matched to two other murders. The killings started July 6, when Mohammed Gebeli, an Egyptian-born Muslim, was slain inside Valentino Fashion, his Bay Ridge store. A second victim was shot to death August 2; Isaac Kadare, the 59-year-old owner of Bensonhurst’s Amazing 99 Cent Deals shop, also hailed from Egypt, but was an observant Jew, the News said.
The homicides have the borough’s shopkeepers on edge. “I hope he’s not targeting owners because they’re Jewish or from the Middle East because that’s becoming personal,” Israeli-born Norman Mann, who owns the Cool Wear clothing store on Flatbush Ave., told the News. “That’s becoming hate. It’s not a normal holdup.”
Fernando Mateo of the Bodega Association of the U.S. told the newspaper his group would send out a sketch of the suspect. “The only members that we would be concerned about are the Middle Easterners,” he said. But Israeli-born shopowner Avi Zikry told the paper “it doesn’t matter if you’re black, white, Mediterranean, it’s a bad thing. I’m just being more aware of the door and make sure the cameras are working” at his store, BPY Collection.
Writing in the News, a forensic psychologist contended the slayings seem “more personal” than a hate crime. “The suspect could be a deranged individual who served in the military overseas and has a genuine hatred toward everyone from that region,” explained Dr. Naftali Berrill. “Or the killer has some sort of beef with these shopowners that we just don’t know about.”
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
2X match on all Passover gifts!
Most Popular
- 1
News A Jewish Republican and Muslim Democrat are suddenly in a tight race for a special seat in Congress
- 2
Film & TV What Gal Gadot has said about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
- 3
Fast Forward The NCAA men’s Final Four has 3 Jewish coaches
- 4
Culture How two Jewish names — Kohen and Mira — are dividing red and blue states
In Case You Missed It
-
Fast Forward ‘Another Jewish warrior’: Fine wins special election for U.S. House seat
-
Fast Forward A Chicagoan wanted to protest Elon Musk — and put a swastika sticker on a Jewish man’s Tesla
-
Fast Forward NY attorney general orders car wash to stop ripping off Jews with antisemitic ‘Passover special’
-
Fast Forward Cory Booker proclaims, ‘Hineni’ — I am here — 19 hours into anti-Trump Senate speech
-
Shop the Forward Store
100% of profits support our journalism
Republish This Story
Please read before republishing
We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:
- Credit the Forward
- Retain our pixel
- Preserve our canonical link in Google search
- Add a noindex tag in Google search
See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.
To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.