Employee Stabs Himself in Chest at Flatbush Ave. Restaurant

A 22-year-old man tried to commit suicide by stabbing himself in the chest while in a Flatbush Avenue restaurant before it opened early Friday morning, FDNY officials said.

According to the FDNY, an employee of El Gran Castillo de Jagua, a Dominican and American food restaurant at the corner of Park Place, suffered self-inflicted wounds at around 5:47 a.m.

He was transported to Kings County Hospital, listed in stable condition and is expected to survive the violent suicide attempt.

The manager of El Gran Castillo, Sergio Olivo, said that the man is an employee of the restaurant and has been working as a dishwasher and deliveryman for two months.

Olivo said that the victim, who immigrated to the US from the Dominican Republic almost a year ago, finished his shift at 12 a.m. on Friday, but came back to work at around 3 a.m. as his stepfather was cleaning the space during the overnight shift.

“He came in through the door looking very upset and told his stepfather that someone was following him and was going to trying and kill him,” Olivo said.

After the stepfather was done working, he said that he would change his clothes and then the two of them would go home. The stepfather went into the basement to change, but then heard crying and screaming from the dining room and ran upstairs.

By that time, the 22-year-old was lying on the floor near a table and was bleeding from his chest and holding a knife in his hands.

“The stepfather tried to take the knife away from him, but he screamed, ‘If you come any closer I am going to finish killing myself,’” Olivo said the younger man stated while still on the floor. “He said that he wanted to be dead.”

The stepfather then called the police and the authorities talked him into dropping the knife.

He was transported to Kings County Hospital at around 8:51 a.m. where he is now in stable condition and is expected to survive.

Olivo said that the man mostly kept to himself and often stared off into space. However, “He follows directions well and is a good worker,” Olivo said. “We all hope he gets better soon.”