A 37-year-old man was fatally shot early on Friday morning at the intersection in Prospect Lefferts Gardens where he lived and had recently opened up a cafe.

At around 5 a.m. on Friday, Kings County Hospital Center personnel told police victim Rickie Young had driven himself to the hospital with gunshot wounds to his shoulder and jaw. Investigators determined that Young had been shot shortly beforehand at Lefferts and Rogers Avenues, where he lived on one corner and this summer started up Taste of Brooklyn Cafe across the street. Doctors treated Young at the hospital, but could not save him.

According to a comment by neighborhood resident Anton Gold on a The Q at Parkside blog post about the murder, Young grew up right where he was killed:

I must say this... as a neighbor, customer and friend to Rick, the deceased... I have to say their is no silver lining with this killing... this wasn't a statistic, it wasn't gang related, it wasn't drug related... this was pure violence, hatred. Rick was a pillar of this neighborhood, a success story, a great father, a real son of the neighborhood... he grew up right where he was killed... exactly ... He was about a month in to his newest venture, a restaurant literally across the street from where he was raised... his Grandmother had always wanted that corner fixed up and he was so damn proud to know how much his Grandmother would be pleased. This is a tragedy... pure and simple and as much as I want people to be happy and safe, well, that is not the reality this time. This murder was as senseless and unwarranted as it gets... We lost a neighborhood hero for real... no silver lining but that doesn't mean give up we should come out more united, more community minded... we can't let the violence win.

A Craigslist ad posted three weeks ago seeking staff for the new restaurant described it as offering "New American" food and "Crafty Cocktails." On July 31st, Young posted a photo of the cafe to a neighborhood Facebook group with the caption "My grandmother has a smile." No one answered this afternoon at a phone number listed for the cafe.

The shooting came a week after a gunman shot four people, one fatally, at a hookah lounge six blocks away on Flatbush Avenue. As of August 30th, two murders and 12 shootings had occurred in the neighborhood's 71st Precinct had [pdf]. Those numbers are about on par with last year at the same time, although the hookah-bar mass shooting pushed up the number of casualties to 20, compared to 16 last year.

Last week, the NYPD touted this summer as the safest on record citywide, though there have still been more murders overall compared to last year and about the same number of shootings [pdf]. The 71st Precinct was not selected for the NYPD's Summer All Out initiative targeting areas with high rates of violence, but the southern-adjacent 67th Precinct was.