Shootings near West Indian American Day Carnival Parade mar Brooklyn celebration
Police say three people were shot in separate incidents near Eastern Parkway on Labor Day, and five were stabbed near the route before the parade.
NEW YORK, United States. Three people were injured in separate shootings near the West Indian American Day Carnival Parade on Brooklyn's Eastern Parkway on Monday, Labor Day, police said, marring an otherwise successful celebration of Caribbean culture.
Less than two hours before the parade was due to end at 5.30pm, a man was shot on St John's Place in Crown Heights, and a suspect was arrested, according to the New York Police Department.
At Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, a woman and a 19-year-old man were shot. The suspects fled, police said. All the victims are expected to survive.
Earlier, before the parade, police said five people were stabbed not far from the route.
A day of mas
The violence came as tens of thousands of masqueraders and millions of spectators gathered in warm weather for the 59th annual parade, regarded as the largest Caribbean parade in North America.
Brooklynite Ryshelle McCadney, whose mother was born in Jamaica and whose father's grandparents came from Barbados, wore Jamaican and Barbadian flags on her costume. "I'm feeling great!" she said.
Guyanese Vanessa Hernandez said she had played mas with Suga Candy for 35 years. "Whenever I get on the Parkway, I have fun," she said.
Barbadian Andre Lucas built his own costume to portray "King of the Renaissance Rhapsody". Waving a Vincentian flag, Bonny Williams said: "We're a small country; we have to put it on the map."
Grand marshals and bands
The grand marshals were Shaun Francois of Labor Union Local 372; Julian John, the Trinidad-born chief executive of NYC Health and Hospitals/Metropolitan; Herman Hall, the Grenadian-born publisher of Everybody's Caribbean Magazine; Sesame Flyers International; and Clyde Durant, former owner of Moods Steel Orchestra.
Jamaican reggae artist Buju Banton and Trinidadian soca artist Kees Dieffenthaller of Kes the Band were honorary grand marshals.
Adult bands included Sesame Flyers, Branches Mas, Rendezvous Mas, I Am Caribbeing, Suga Candy Mas, The Spirit of Ayiti/Creole Jam, D'Midas International NYC and 1199SEIU Mas.
Panorama on Saturday night featured defending champions Pan Evolution Steel Orchestra, along with Despers USA, Metro Steel Orchestra and others.
"While we may not be perfect, our 100% volunteer organization works tirelessly, year after year, to keep this tradition alive," said the West Indian American Day Carnival Association. "Let us make sure it continues under the banner of unity, not division."
