Two young men who were potential witnesses in different Brooklyn murder cases were executed inside a parked SUV in Manhattan's Flatiron district early Monday, police said.
Rashawn Washington, 26, and Terrance Serrano, 22, of Coney Island, were partying at Flatiron hotspot Roam on E. 19th St. before they were slain.
The motive was unclear, but cops said they believe the two were involved in a dispute inside the club.
Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly said security-camera footage shows a dark sedan pull up behind the silver SUV, parked on E. 19th St. between Park Ave. and Broadway.
Two men hopped out of the sedan and approached the SUV before disappearing from view. Seconds later, the camera captured them running back to the car and zooming away.
"I heard a series of shots. 'Boom! Boom!' Pause. Then 'Boom! Boom! Boom!'" said Glenn Steigelman, 61, who lives around the corner from the crime scene.
"I looked at my clock: It was 3:45 [a.m.]. I tried to look out the window and I heard a car screech and speed down the street, like it was trying to get away really fast."
Kelly told reporters that Washington and Serrano - both of whom have lengthy rap sheets - were wanted for questioning in separate homicides in Coney Island last year.
"They had not come forward," Kelly said. "They were identified to us as potential witnesses."
Investigators believe Washington, who has prior arrests for gun possession, was present during a daylight gun battle that led to the stray-bullet killing of Anna Surman, 87, in August 2009, police sources said.
The Coney Island grandmother was walking in the flower-filled courtyard of the Surfside Houses when she was struck in the neck.
Serrano, who has previous collars for gun possession and robbery, was targeted in a July 2009 shooting on Surf Ave., the sources said. He wasn't struck, but a slug hit his brother, Micuan Serrano, 19, in the face, killing him.
Investigators are not sure whether the men were targeted because of their connections to previous homicides.
Police sources said Washington and Serrano may have been involved in a dispute while inside the club. No arrests have been made. No weapon was recovered, but cops found five .45-caliber shell casings at the scene.
Two Verizon technicians working a block away from the crime scene saw a fight outside the club but did not know who was involved.
"There was a little bit of a brawl at the end of the street on the corner," said one of the workers, Mike Buttermark, 44.
"I just heard someone screaming at the top of their lungs after the shots were fired. People started getting really distraught after they heard who got killed. One guy got really upset and picked up a garbage can and threw it at a cop car."
Both of the SUV's front windows were shot out, cops said.
"There were two other bullet holes in the windshield - one on the driver's side and one on the passenger side," Buttermark added. "It was a clear execution."
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