A carpenter renovating a new age art gallery on Summit Street was murdered on Monday.
Police said that Tajeme Sylvester, 31, a Jamaica native who lived on Madison Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, was shot in the head and chest at 5:45 pm inside the Lotus Temple of Visions Gallery near Hamilton Avenue.
The victim may have known his attacker, a police source told the New York Post. There were no signs of forced entry, and it was not clear if anything was taken, according to reports.
Sylvester’s friends and family were shaken by the news.
“Rest in peace to a wonderful cousin,” Alexandria Sylvester wrote on Tajeme’s Facebook page. “I can’t believe you’re gone, I can’t even begin to understand why or who would want to take your life, but you will continue to live in our hearts.”
Others testified to Sylvester’s kind spirit.
“I know for sure you are in heaven,” wrote Ekco Pest. “You were one of the best and most angel-hearted people that I know.”
According to reports, gallery owner Divine Elohim, who calls himself a “space age herbalist” on his website was not in town when the murder was committed.
According to its website, the Lotus Temple of Visions considered itself a way station for artists to stay when vacationing in the city. It also bills itself as a gathering place for “seekers of the light truth.”
“Members and visitors of the Lotus Temple are multi-faceted beings who enjoy the wide range of our venue’s offerings,” states the website, which also features suggestive videos of Elohim in herb-growing greenhouses. “The Lotus is used to symbolize the process of transformation popularized through Eastern aesthetics of art, beauty, prayer and meditation.”
Area workers weren’t too sure what went on in the space.
“I haven’t seen any art there, but I have seen some kids hang out and smoke weed outside,” said Michael Nickandros, an employee at Woofs ’n Whiskers on Summit Street. “It’s always been pretty quiet.”
— with Vera Zukelman
