ALBAWABA– Gunfire and a stabbing marred the end of Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade on Monday night, leaving at least eight people injured in a string of violent incidents along Eastern Parkway, police said.
Seven people were shot and one man was slashed in four separate incidents between 5:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m., as parade crowds were dispersing in Crown Heights.
Among the victims were a 14-year-old boy, a man in his 20s, and a woman in her 40s. All were reported in stable condition, except for a 53-year-old man who was struck in the neck and leg near Nostrand Avenue and Sterling Street and rushed to the hospital in critical condition.
A 40-year-old man was also shot in the ankle in the same incident. Police said a person of interest was taken into custody.
Other shootings left two men, ages 36 and 21, wounded near Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue; a man in his 20s and a woman in her 40s injured near 1098 Eastern Parkway; and a teenager shot in the hand and back near Rochester Avenue. He was taken to Maimonides Medical Center and listed in stable condition.
In a separate attack, a man was slashed with a cutting instrument near Eastern Parkway and Nostrand Avenue but refused medical treatment.
The West Indian American Day Parade, held every Labor Day in Brooklyn, New York, is one of the city’s largest and most colorful cultural celebrations, attracting more than a million spectators each year.
Rooted in Caribbean traditions, the parade features vibrant costumes, steel drum and soca bands, and floats representing nations across the West Indies, from Trinidad and Tobago to Jamaica, Haiti, and beyond.
Stretching along Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, it showcases the music, food, and heritage of Caribbean communities, serving both as a joyful festival and a powerful expression of cultural pride in the heart of New York City.
