Five people were shot at a parade in Brooklyn, New York, on Monday when a man began firing into the crowd of the West Indian American Day festival parade, with two in critical condition.
“One person intentionally going after a group of people tried to ruin the day for everybody, and we’re not going to let that happen,” NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell said in a news conference after the shooting.
He said four of the victims were men and one was a woman, with two in critical condition and three expected to survive.
Chell said there was no active shooter, and the parade was continuing.
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“We have multiple cops working very hard this weekend, very hard today to keep this community and to keep this parade safe, and we’ll be out here until the wee hours of the morning doing just that. Working hard, keeping this community safe.”
Police are still searching for the suspect, whom Chell described as a Black man in his 20s with a slim build who was wearing a black shirt with paint stains and a black bandanna.
Chell added the police believe the shooting was “not random,” but police don’t know his motive.
Thousands of people were along the parade route Monday for the festival, which celebrates “Caribbean heritage and culture,” according to the city.
“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,” witness 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,” she added.
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