August 3, 2007 -- The gun used to kill a Queens bodega owner during a botched robbery in June was linked to a shooting in Brooklyn two months earlier, sources said.
Detectives are hoping the new information brings them a step closer to catching the killer who pumped a bullet into Bolivar Cruz's face as he tried to protect his daughters during a South Ozone Park holdup - part of a spree of 19 bodega robberies.
Investigators examining shell casings determined that the gun used to kill Cruz was used shoot a Brooklyn teenager.
Sheakwan Grey, 16, was shot April 23.
Cruz, 53, was gunned down as he tried to protect two of his seven daughters in a June 11 stickup.
Cops said three men - two of them brandishing guns - burst into Cruz's Kennedy Mini Market at 133-45 135th St. at 9:30 p.m. and announced a robbery.
In addition to Cruz, there were several other people in the store, including his daughters Angelina, 27, and Jalissa, 16. The thugs ordered a co-worker and a customer to get down on the floor, police said.
Cruz reached for his own weapon - an unlicensed .380 semiautomatic - but was wounded before he could get off a shot. Cruz died several days later.
