Man Gets 22 Years To Life For Canarsie Mechanic Killing: DA

CANARSIE, BROOKLYN — A man has been sentenced to 22 years to life in prison for the 2017 fatal shooting an auto body shop worker in Canarsie, the Brooklyn district attorney said Thursday.

Flatbush resident Richard Essor, 35, who tried to flee to Jamaica after the shooting, was earlier this month convicted for second-degree murder and criminal possession of a weapon, the DA said.

“This defendant executed a hardworking and defenseless father of three in a chilling attack that was captured on videotape," District Attorney Eric Gonzalez said in a press release. "The defendant’s senseless actions left a family and community without a husband, father, grandfather and friend.

"He has now been held accountable for his actions.”

On September 29, 2017, Essor approached Dexton Simpson, a 51-year-old mechanic at Total Auto Care, asking for the money owed to him from the victim damaging the defendant's car while working on it, said the district attorney. After Simpson told the defendant that he did not have all the owed money, Essor went to get his gun, according to Gonzalez.

Essor soon after came back to the East 98th Street auto body shop, pointed the semi-automatic pistol at the victim for more than 20 seconds and fired two shots into the mechanic's chest, the district attorney said. Essor shot the victim again as he tried to escape before the shooter drove away, said the DA.

The defendant subsequently booked a plane ticket to Jamaica for the next morning at 7:15 a.m., and as he was boarding the flight, police arrested Essor, according to the district attorney.