A former Brooklyn café owner who worked on the set of ABC’s “The Chew” was shot dead on a Bedford-Stuyvesant street in an apparent robbery attempt, police sources said yesterday.
Ivan Giovanettina, 41, had “some sort of altercation” with two men who approached him at around 9:30 p.m. Thursday on Macon Street, two blocks from his home, the sources said.
Giovanettina at one point began chasing the men, when one of them turned and shot him in the lower back, sources added.
He was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital.
Police believe the motive was robbery, even though Gionvanettina’s wallet, with $250 in it, was still at his apartment and his iPhone was found near his body.
Friends said they believe the victim had only gone out for cigarettes or food.
Giovanettina, from Switzerland, was a co-owner of the now-closed Blu York coffee shop in Bedford-Stuyvesant.
“He’s just someone everybody would want to have as a friend,” said roommate Alex Wilson. “He takes care of us.”
Video surveillance from a nearby store shows the suspects, wearing hooded jackets, walking by Tompkins Avenue and Halsey Street prior to the shooting. No arrests had been made as of late yesterday.