CROWN HEIGHTS — A founder of a Brooklyn anti-violence group was shot and killed in Miami over the weekend, according to his colleagues and local reports.
Lavon Walker, 30, was visiting South Beach, Miami, from New York when he was shot twice outside of a restaurant early Sunday morning, the Miami New Times reported.
Walker, known to friends as “Boo,” helped found Save Our Streets, an anti-violence organization in Crown Heights and Bedford-Stuyvesant, and had “dedicated his life to working for peace” in Brooklyn, the organization said on its website Monday.
“He was our heart. He was always smiling, cracking jokes and keeping us honest,” the post reads. "He saw the vision for a violence-free Brooklyn."
Like many who work for Save Our Streets, Walker led street interventions, mediation and “violence interrupting” — responding directly to gun violence to diffuse tension and prevent retaliatory shootings.
“To those who knew him, Walker was the type of guy who would risk his own life to save another person,” S.O.S. director Amy Ellenbogen said in a statement.
Miami police have not yet determined a motive for the shooting and, as of Monday morning, no suspects have been identified, the New Times reported.
