4th Store Owner Narrowly Escaped NYC Serial Killer

Brooklyn store owner Jacob Hamula could have ended up a victim of Salvatore Perrone, the suspected serial killer believed to have gunned down three other store owners before police nabbed him. Perrone, called "John Doe Duffel Bag" or "Son of Sal" in the press, visited Hamula's shoe store twice—and the second time, he showed up near closing time with his duffel bag, police sources tell the New York Daily News. The bag was later found to be holding his rifle, and Perrone allegedly committed the three other murders around closing time. But at Hamula's shop, he was reportedly scared away by a customer.

"I feel good—very good," Hamula tells the Daily News. "I want my life and I want to continue and I want to be happy." Hamula recognized Perrone when he saw the surveillance footage of him around another murder scene. "Thank God nothing happened," Hamula says. Just two days after his Nov. 14 visit to Hamula's store, Perrone allegedly killed his final victim. Click for more on Perrone. (More Salvatore Perrone stories.)