Monday's West Indian Day Parade in Crown Heights, typically a vibrant celebration of Caribbean culture, ended with a series of violent incidents. According to Gothamist, six people were shot, and another was slashed in separate events close to the parade route.
The string of violence began at approximately 5:35 p.m. near Eastern Parkway and Utica Avenue, when two individuals, including a woman in her 40s and a man in his 20s, sustained gunshot wounds and were later taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition. Following this, at about 6 p.m., a man was slashed near Nostrand Avenue and Eastern Parkway but refused medical treatment and did not cooperate with police in their investigations, as stated by FOX 5 New York.
Later in the evening, around 6:55 p.m., officers found a 36-year-old man with a gunshot wound to the shoulder and a 21-year-old with a gunshot wound to the chest near Classon Avenue and Eastern Parkway, according to NYPD spokesperson Officer Carolina Cavitolo quoted in Gothamist. Both victims were rushed to the same hospital in stable condition, and no arrests have been made in that particular shooting incident to date.
Minutes thereafter, violence erupted again near Nostrand Avenue and Sterling Street. A 53-year-old man was shot in the neck, and the right leg and a 40-year-old woman were shot in the left ankle. The man, in critical condition, and the woman, in stable condition, were admitted to Kings County Hospital. A person of interest related to this shooting is in custody, with an ongoing investigation to determine whether the victims were the intended targets, FOX 5 New York reports.
Authorities remain tight-lipped on whether the incidents were connected or the potential motivations behind them. The identity of the victims and the individual in custody have not been publicly disclosed, and no charges have been announced yet. The NYPD continues to investigate these events that marred an otherwise festive weekend celebration.
