Police investigating possible link between double homicide and brazen home invasion
Print Email Mira Wassef | mwassef@siadvance.com By Mira Wassef | mwassef@siadvance.com
Email the author | Follow on Twitter
on January 27, 2017 at 5:58 PM, updated January 28, 2017 at 10:51 AM
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Authorities are investigating if there is a connection between the double homicide in Dongan Hills and the brazen home invasion robbery in Grant City Thursday night, police said.
Between 6:25 p.m. and 6:39 p.m., two male perpetrators approached a 52-year-old woman and pointed a gun at her as she arrived at her home on South Railroad Avenue, according to an NYPD spokesman.
Once inside, the two masked men then ordered the victim to lay on the living room floor before one of the suspects kicked her in the side, police said.
Carl Clark, a man sources identified as the 52-year-old victim in a double homicide in Dongan Hills Tuesday, lived at that address on South Railroad Avenue, according to public records and a neighbor.
But police would not confirm his ID or address, pending family notification.
The suspects in the home invasion made off with $2,500 in cash and thousands more in jewelry, including multiple rings, watches, necklaces and bracelets, the NYPD spokesman said.
There have been no arrests and the investigation is ongoing.
"I hadn't heard anything," said one neighbor when told about the robbery Friday. "I assumed the police were there for what happened."
Said another neighbor: "I haven't seen anything. I haven't heard anything. It doesn't mean that it hasn't happened."
Police already identified Michael Genovese, 57, of Edgewater, N.J. as the other man who was fatally shot execution-style at about 6:15 p.m. Tuesday at a lending business at 124 Buel Ave.
Each victim was shot three times in the head in a rear office at the business, police said.
The address of the slayings is the location of Universal Merchant Funding, an organization that provides loans for small businesses. Genovese is listed the owner of the business, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Ricky Dennis, an ex-con questioned in connection with the double homicide, was a former employee at the loan company, federal prosecutors said.
He was detained Thursday on a parole violation as authorities investigate for possible links to the slayings.
During his appearance in Brooklyn federal court, Judge Vera Scanlon denied Dennis' bail bond based on the government's contention that he's a danger based on the "significant evidence" connecting the defendant to Tuesday's fatal shootings.
"The evidence implicating him in the homicide and the fact that he is under investigation for such a serious crime make him a danger to the community and flight risk," Assistant U.S. Attorney Tanya Hajjar wrote in a letter filed in federal court.
Dennis, who was taken into custody for allegedly violating his supervised post-release, has not been charged in connection with the slayings.
Prior to his court appearance, sources told the Advance Dennis was no longer believed to be the shooter.
