Bloody conflicts marred the West Indian Day Parade and J’Ouvert celebrations in Brooklyn on Monday — with four people shot and wounded, and one person slashed as the popular annual events wound down.
The mayhem began with two people shot around 5:35 p.m. near Eastern Parkway and Utica Ave. in Crown Heights; one man in his 20s was shot in the leg and a woman in her 40s suffered a graze wound to her lower back, cops said.
EMS transported both victims to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
Nearly 40 minutes later, and about 1.6 miles away, a man suffered multiple slash wounds around 6:12 p.m. on Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Ave. The man refused medical treatment at the location.
More gunfire then erupted along the parade route around 6:55 p.m. near Eastern Parkway and Classon Ave., where a 36-year-old man was shot in the shoulder and a 21-year-old man was struck in the chest. EMS also rushed both victims to Kings County Hospital, where they were also in stable condition.
There were no arrests in any of the disturbing incidents.
On Friday, NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch declared “thousands” of cops would be detailed along the West Indian Day Parade route down Eastern Parkway and the neighboring streets for the J’Ouvert celebration. In addition, 2,500 more cops were posted at trouble spots in boroughs around the city as part of an overall anti-violence initiative for the end-of-summer weekend.
The West Indian Parade and J’Ouvert are perennially among the biggest events for the NYPD in terms of sheer manpower deployed.
Last year, a gunman jumped a barricade during the parade and wildly opened fire, wounding a 16-year-old gang rival and striking four others, killing a 25-year-old man. That shooting is still unsolved.
Tisch had vowed the parade would this year would have two rows of barricades surrounding the event, like “a moat.”
”As always, the NYPD, along with our law enforcement partners, remain vigilant,” she asserted.
“We are all on the same page about one thing: There will zero tolerance for violence of any kind. This must remain a celebration — not an occasion marred by guns or disorder,” she said, adding the weekend event “is meant to highlight culture, music and Caribbean pride and it should not be overshadowed by headlines about bloodshed or chaos.”
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