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Police: Robbers shot store owner 4 times ‘in an attempt to leave no witness’

(Photos provided — New York State Police)

HAGUE — Authorities say they’ve charged two people with shooting the owner of an Adirondack general store earlier this week.

State police say 25-year-old Vittorio Campano and 27-year-old Christine Tomko, both of Thurman, were captured late Thursday. Both pleaded not guilty today to robbery and attempted murder charges, and were ordered held in the Warren County jail on $1 million bail.

The arrests came two days after Jim Rypkema was shot several times Tuesday afternoon while working inside his seasonal store, the Hague Market, in the town of Hague on Lake George. He’s recovering at the hospital in Burlington, Vermont.

Police say Campano and Tomko shot Rympka four times “in an attempt to leave no witness” as they robbed hos store.

Scores of officers from several law enforcement agencies searched the surrounding Adirondack woods for the suspects. Police said video surveillance footage from the area led investigators to a Pontiac Vibe with distinctive stickers. That vehicle was spotted and stopped Thursday afternoon, and its occupants were detained.

“Search warrants were then obtained to search a storage shed the two had access to, at which time items relative to the crime at the Hague Market along with up to 8 burglaries were found,” state police wrote in a press release. “Included in the items found was what is believed to be the small caliber handgun used in the shooting.”

Phone messages left with Campano’s public defender and Tomko’s lawyer weren’t returned.

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