STATEN ISLAND — Investigators believe a former employee murdered two loan office workers in Dongan Hills Tuesday after he was spotted crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge shortly afterward in a car that matched one seen fleeing the scene, officials said.
Ricky Dennis, who worked for Universal Merchant Funding until he left under "acrimonious circumstances," is suspected of fatally shooting Michael Genovese, 57, and Carl Clark, 52, in the business about 6:14 p.m. Tuesday, according to Robert Capers, United States Attorney for the Eastern District of New York.
Video shows a man who covered his head with an umbrella while walking into the business at 124 Buel St., near Zoe Avenue, about 6:05 p.m., head into the back office but then step out to grab another man and bring him inside before ultimately fleeing, officials said.
NYPD investigators had been questioning a man on Thursday, but a police spokeswoman wasn't able to confirm if the person was Dennis or that any questioning was still taking place. She did say there had been no arrests in the case.
He is considered the prime suspect and federal investigators said they want to detain him because they believe he is a prime flight risk, according a letter they filed with the Eastern District Court Thursday.
Dennis, who was released from prison in September after doing time for using a gun during a violent crime, was questioned by the NYPD the same say as the murders but lied to his probation officer about the nature of his interaction with police.
He also told his probation officer that he didn't own the gray Honda Accord spotted crossing the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge about 15 minutes after the murders, Capers said.
But video clearly showed him in the car, which was also seen crossing into Staten Island about 4:26 p.m., about 90 minutes before the murders, officials said.
Dennis was driving a gray Honda Accord that matched a witness description of the car fleeing immediately after the shooting, officials said.
Witnesses also said the gunman wore a mask like the black neoprene one investigators later discovered in Dennis's Honda, federal officials said.
Dennis owes $415 for four tickets, most recently for double parking on Jan. 19 and speeding through a school zone a day before, according to Department of Finance records.
The car was also ticketed for blocking a hydrant on Nov. 16 and for a standing violation on Dec. 14, records show.
A spokeswoman for the U.S. Attorney's office declined to provide further comment on Dennis's case.
