Shootings Mar Massive West Indian-American Day Carnival Parade in New York

NEW YORK, New York – Despite a very heavy police presence, the New York Police Department (NYPD) reported late Monday that at least six people were shot along the massive West Indian-American Day Carnival Parade route on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway, bringing a sad end to an otherwise grand extravaganza in picture-perfect weather.

As millions of spectators and hundreds of thousands of masqueraders and revelers converged on Labour Day Monday for the 58th Annual New York Caribbean Carnival Parade, police said a reveler was shot in the leg along the parade route.

Police said that as the seven-hour parade was wrapping up,  six other people were hit by gunfire in separate incidents.

They said the shootings, though none was reported fatal, marred the pageantry, as millions watched from ubiquitous police barricades, as humongous speakers mounted atop flatbed trucks blasted soca, reggae, kompa, zouk and other Caribbean music.

Felicia England, a St. Lucian native, who resides in Brooklyn, played mas with Suga Candy Mas, portraying “Forsithia” said “I love it!” It’s like a kid in a Candy Store. I’m having fun, meeting new friends.”

Nearby, Charisma Springs, another Brooklyn resident, who was born in Panama to a Panamanian mother and Guyanese father, said she was playing with Suga Candy Mas for the second successive year. “I feel great!” she exclaimed.

Julian John, the Trinidadian-born chef executive officer  at Metropolitan Hospital in Manhattan, said he brought a float to the Parkway for the very first time.

“It’s an important opportunity to celebrate our culture,” he said. “It’s a wonderful day. I love it,” John said while  Leticia Theodore-Greene, John’s Trinidadian chief-of-staff, said she was also having a time of her life.

Abena Amory, a musical artiste, the daughter of late Nevis premier, Vance Amory, and Vincentian soprano Erlene Williams-King, carried both St. Kitts and Nevis and Vincentian flags.

“It’s an opportunity to celebrate my Caribbean culture,” said the Brooklyn resident, who was born in Nevis, before hopping on a float with Bronx Borough President Vanessa L. Gibson, whose father hailed from Trinidad and Tobago. “I love to celebrate my culture.”

New York State Senator Zellnor Y. Myrie, whose grandmother hailed from Jamaica, celebrated with labour union members from Down State Hospital in Brooklyn’s UUP, the acronym for United University Professions, the nation’s largest higher education union representing the faculty and professional staff of the State University of New York (SUNY) system.

Bronx resident Dianna Baker, of Barbadian heritage, portrayed Sesame Flyers’ “Dynasty of Colours,” while  Guyanese Darlene Price, 54, played “Week of Radiance” with Sesame Flyers.

With at least six large Haitian bands on the Parkway and hundreds of revelers in each band, one float proclaimed boldly: “Haiti will Rise Again! God Bless Haiti!”

Brooklyn-based West Indian-American Day Carnival Association (WIADCA), organizer of the annual spectacle, said Monday’s massive parade was the culmination of the Caribbean Carnival Week that kicked off last Thursday at the Brooklyn Museum.

WIADCA said it was celebrating “58 years of Caribbean culture, cuisine, programmes, contribution, mas, steel band and more,” under the theme, “Vive Le Carnivale!”