5 people shot at New York’s West Indian American Day Parade, police say

NEW YORK (AP) — Five people were shot Monday at New York City’s West Indian American Day Parade, police said. It’s the latest instance of violence marring one of the world’s largest annual celebrations of Caribbean culture.

A gunman targeting a specific group of people opened fire along the parade route in Brooklyn around 2:35 p.m., NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said.

The parade had kicked off hours earlier, with thousands of revelers dancing and marching down Eastern Parkway, a main thoroughfare through the borough. It was expected to continue into the night.

Two people were critically wounded, Chell said. The three other victims are expected to survive their injuries, he said. The gunman fled.

“This was not random,” Chell said. “This was an intentional act by one person towards a group of people. We do not by no means have any active shooter or anything of that nature running around Eastern Parkway as we speak. The parade is going on and will go on until later on tonight.”

An Associated Press videographer who was nearby when the shots rang out saw at least two people being treated next for what appeared to be wounds to the face and arm.

Police cordoned off an area adjacent to the parade route, where they had placed crime scene markers. The parade continued flowing past as officers were seen bagging items.

Chell asked that bystanders provide police with any video footage they may have recorded of the shooting.

“We need that video,” Chell said. “We are going to solve this, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”

Some people attending the parade were shaken by the violence.

“I’m crying over this, it’s so terrible. How can someone have the heart to fire a gun around so many people — babies, children, the elderly,” Jalissa Bailey told the New York Post.

“I know this parade has a history of violence, but things have been peaceful in recent years, and we got to hoping that there was enough security in place that maybe that was over with,” Bailey said.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer was marching in the parade at the time and completed the route.

“I’m pained and troubled by the horrible shooting that took place as we were marching together at the West Indian Day Festival and Parade in Brooklyn,” Schumer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Thank you to our 1st responders on the scene. I pray for everyone affected. We must keep working to end gun violence in America.”

The parade, an annual Labor Day event in its 57th year, turns Eastern Parkway into a kaleidoscope of feather-covered costumes and colorful flags as participants make their way down the thoroughfare alongside floats stacked high with speakers playing soca and reggae music.

The parade routinely attracts huge crowds, who line the almost 2-mile (3.2-kilometer) route that runs from Crown Heights to the Brooklyn Museum. It’s also a popular destination for local politicians, many of whom have West Indian heritage or represent members of the city’s large Caribbean community.

Though a joyous occasion, the parade and related celebrations have been plagued by violence over the years.

In 2016, two people were killed and several others were wounded near the parade route. The year before, Carey Gabay, an aide to then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo was shot in the head during pre-parade festivities. He died nine days later.

The West Indian American Day Parade has its roots in more traditionally timed, pre-Lent Carnival celebrations started by a Trinidadian immigrant in Manhattan around a century ago, according to the organizers. The festivities were moved to the warmer time of year in the 1940s.

Brooklyn, where hundreds of thousands of Caribbean immigrants and their descendants have settled, began hosting the parade in the 1960s.

The Labor Day parade is now the culmination of days of carnival events in the city, which includes a steel pan band competition and J’Ouvert, a separate street party commemorating freedom from slavery.