[New York Daily News] – At least five people were shot, one fatally, near the route of Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade in a string of early morning shootings Monday.
A gunman opened fire into a crowd that had already begun parade festivities in Crown Heights about 3:30 a.m., police said, hitting three people and an unmarked police vehicle.
A 55-year-old man, shot in the midsection, died at the scene at the corner of Empire Blvd. and Rogers Ave. — about six blocks from the route of the parade that kicked off at 11 a.m.
A 22-year-old woman was shot in the ankle and a 22-year-old man was shot in the leg, cops said. Both were taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.
A round also shattered a window of an unmarked police vehicle, showering an NYPD detective inside with glass, officials said. He was treated and released from SUNY Downstate Medical Center.
A 26-year-old suspect was taken into custody in the fatal shooting and a firearm was recovered, cops said.
Police Commissioner William Bratton called the suspect a “career criminal†and said he was recently paroled. His name wasn’t immediately released.
Minutes later, a 28-year-old woman was shot in the butt on Utica Ave. near St. John’s Place, just two blocks from the parade’s Eastern Parkway route, officials said.
She was taken to Kings County Hospital with a non-life-threatening wound. There were no arrests in her shooting.
Just three blocks from the earlier fatal triple shooting, a 22-year-old man was shot in the foot near McKeever Place and Sullivan Place at 4:35 a.m., cops said. The victim, who was uncooperative with investigators, was taken to Kings County Hospital with a non-life-threatening wound. There were no immediate arrests.
The West Indian Day Parade, one of the city’s largest celebrations, has been marred by violence in past years.
Mayor Bill de Blasio defended the importance of the parade despite the violence and said the “vast majority have a wonderful time and only a few individuals get out of line.†He was joined at the parade by his wife, Chirlane McCray, who is of Caribbean decent, and their children, Dante and Chiara.
