Cops in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn, thought they were pulling over a run-of-the-mill car thief Tuesday afternoon — but instead wound up capturing a pistol-packing fugitive wanted for a one-man spree of murder, rape and robberies in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Kendrick Keyanti Gregory, 21, had been on the lam since Monday, when he allegedly fatally shot one man, wounding another man and then raped a 15-year-old girl.
The trail had gone cold until 3 p.m. Tuesday, when a 55-year-old woman left her keys in her 2014 Honda Pilot while dashing into a bank at Warren Street and Broadway in Lower Manhattan, police sources said.
She called the cops, who were able to track her stolen Honda to Brooklyn using the car’s “linxup,” a GPS device.
Cops pulled the car over about a half-hour later on Smith Street between Dean and Pacific streets, never guessing that a murder suspect was behind the wheel with two loaded firearms in the car.
“They went at him with guns drawn,” a police source said.
He had a Springfield Armory XDS .45-caliber handgun in his pants pocket, police said. An identical weapon also was found stashed under the driver’s seat.
He was charged with grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon and possession of a loaded firearm.
Authorities in North Carolina had urged residents to stay indoors while Gregory was on the lam, The News & Observer of Raleigh reported.
He was arrested in Raleigh on Aug. 1 on charges of breaking into cars and larceny a day earlier, the paper reported. He was slapped with additional charges in connection with incidents on July 27 and 28.
He pleaded guilty as part of a deal to one felony count of breaking and entering a motor vehicle – and the felony larceny charges were dismissed, the paper reported.
Wake District Court Judge Jacqueline Brewer sentenced him to 18 months of supervised probation, while a sentence of six to 17 months in prison was suspended.
Gregory’s alleged crime spree turned violent, however, when he allegedly committed an armed robbery at the Knights Inn hotel, where Lenin Alvaringa, 27, was shot and his wallet stolen.
He then allegedly fatally shot Thomas Melvin Durand, 64, at his pawn shop on Capital Boulevard, authorities told The News & Observer.
The rape charges stemmed from an attack on a 15-year-old girl shortly after the slaying.
Gregory was charged in North Carolina with murder, first-degree rape, two counts of robbery with a dangerous weapon and assault with a deadly weapon with intent to kill inflicting serious injury.