Two men were stabbed to death and two people were shot in separate incidents near the West Indian Day parade route after the festivities officially ended Monday evening.
The streets of Crown Heights were still crowded with revelers who had enjoyed a peaceful celebration when the crimes took place.
At the intersection of Eastern Parkway and Bedford Ave., a 27-year-old man was stabbed in the neck and died before he got to Kings County Hospital.
About 10 blocks away, another man was stabbed in the Sing Wah Kitchen, a Chinese restaurant where a drunk patron was picking fights with strangers, the owner said.
Pearl Gabel/Pearl Gabel for News
Stabbing scene at Sing Wah Kitchen chinese food restaurant on St. Johns Place in Crown Heights.
“He was fighting other people. My husband told him to stop it. He told my husband, ‘Come out! Come out!’ I told him, ‘Don’t go out. He’s dangerous,’” the owner said.
“He got into another fight. He took out a small knife and cut him here — his throat,” she said. “A lot of blood came out. He fell down and the other guy ran.”
Police said the victim was dead on arrival at Kings County. A suspect was arrested at the scene.
In a more minor incident, a man and a woman were shot on Eastern Parkway near New York Ave. about 5:30 p.m.
Witnesses described a scene of panic as pedestrians fled away from gunshots while cops rushed toward it.
“The lady had blood on her skirt,” said Keisha Barnes, 17. “There was a lot of blood. In the middle of the street there was a lot of shoes and glass.”
Both victims were in stable condition with hip wounds
Violence erupted hours after the West Indian Day Parade ended in Brooklyn this evening — leaving two dead and two others injured, authorities said.
A 26-year-old man was stabbed in the neck around 6:30 p.m. in front of Sing Wah Kitchen on St. Johns Place near Utica Avenue — two blocks from the parade route on Eastern Parkway.
The victim was rushed to Kings County Hospital where he died.
A suspect was taken into custody at the scene, cops said.
About 30 minutes earlier, a 27-year-old man was also knifed in the neck at Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway, cops said. He also died at Kings County.
And a man and a woman were both shot in the hip around 5:15 p.m. on Eastern Parkway near New York Avenue, cops said.
“The young lady was dancing in the street and there was loud music coming from the truck,” said one witness.
“At first she thought she got stabbed. But when she pulled up her clothes and looked at the wound, she realized she was shot and she freaked a little bit.
“She wasn’t hurt badly. She was able to walk over and speak to the cop and the ambulance came and took her away on the truck.
“It happened very quickly and nobody heard the shot,” the witness said.
The bloodshed marred what had been a day of dancing, food and celebrating Caribbean culture.
The festivities “remind me of back home,” said Ann Marie Jones, who originally hails from Jamaica.
“The colors are so beautiful, they remind me of the vibrant tropical colors. They cheer me up.”
Nine-year-old Melina Noel was waving Haiti’s flag and shaking a tambourine and dancing.
“I like the bands, dancing and the music. It is so touching. It is like a celebration. It just makes me want to dance,” Melina cheered.
At least five people injured at West Indian American Day Parade
At least five people were attacked at yesterday's night after being injured by broken bottles at around 6 p.m., according to an NYPD spokeswoman. One man, who was stabbed in the neck, was in critical condition. The other was not seriously injured.
Less than an hour earlier, two people -- a 24-year-old woman and a 32-year-old man -- were shot in the hip along the parade route at about 5:15 p.m., cops said. They also were taken to Kings County Hospital, where they were listed in stable condition. Police had no suspects last night.
In the afternoon, an unidentified woman was stabbed on Eastern Parkway, according to an FDNY spokesman. She was treated at the scene.
Last year, four people were injured during the parade. Two cops and three others were killed hours later.
Two Are Fatally Stabbed and Two Are Shot as Violence Follows Parade-NYT
The day had been mostly quiet, except for the thunder of police helicopters and the boom of reggae
But not long after the official festivities ended, sirens started sounding and violence descended on pockets of Crown Heights, on and around the route off Eastern Parkway. By early evening, the police said, two men had been fatally stabbed and at least two people had been wounded in gun violence, breaking the tenuous calm in Brooklyn.
By the time the parade began around noon — a leisurely 60 minutes later than scheduled, bringing all of its feathery finery and island tunes — the New York City Police Department had long been visibly in place.
“There’s more of them than there are us,” said Vanada Miller, 58, who came from Queens and watched the parade from a bench on Eastern Parkway, wearing a shimmering silver top and waving a Jamaican flag. “It’s much too much, it takes away from it all. But I understand it.”
Bronwin Taylor, 32, who lives in Crown Heights and was born in Jamaica, said on Monday night that the parade was not what it used to be because of the violence.
“I don’t know why people decide to come out and ruin other people’s fun with violence,” she said. “I don’t understand it, but it happens every year.”
In a parade marred by several fatal shootings in the previous nine years, the police had made their presence known — and not always in a positive manner.
Last year, some officers posted racist comments on Facebook about patrolling the parade, and others were caught on video dancing suggestively with participants. A city councilman, Jumaane D. Williams, was detained by the police. On Monday, the festivities carried a tense undercurrent of caution.
The police commissioner, Raymond W. Kelly, got a smattering of boos and some cheers when he walked the route in front of the department’s steel drum band float. The group played Bob Marley’s “One Love,” the message of “Let’s get together and feel all right” blaring from the speakers. When the float got to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Mr. Kelly jumped in on the drums.
The celebrations began over the weekend with smaller events and, Mr. Kelly had said Monday afternoon that there had been no reports of violence. He added that he hoped the rest of the day would go just as smoothly.
In recent years, most of the violence had taken place after the parade ended. The official end time for this year’s procession was 6 p.m., and by then the crowds had dispersed.
The police said on Monday evening that around 6:30 p.m., a dispute broke out between two men on St. Johns Place, two blocks from Eastern Parkway. One man, 26, died of stab wounds, and the other, 20, was arrested.
Another man, 27, was pronounced dead at Kings County Hospital after being stabbed on Eastern Parkway, around 6 p.m., the police said. And a woman, 24, and a man, 32, were shot about 5:15 p.m. on Eastern Parkway, the authorities said.
Last year, a resident of Crown Heights, Denise Gay, was sitting on her stoop when she was killed in the cross-fire between police officers and a gunman. That came on a Labor Day weekend in the city when 67 people were shot, 13 of whom died.
“It’s always unfortunate when you have a million-plus people here peacefully enjoying the parade and you have a small number who will do a violent act and that becomes the story,” State Senator Eric Adams, a Brooklyn Democrat, said earlier on Monday.
The behavior of individual police officers became as much of a story last year as the violence.
The Police Department came under scrutiny after the revelation that officers had posted on the Facebook page “No More West Indian American Day Detail.” One poster called participants “savages” and “animals,” and another suggested, “Let them kill each other.” Seventeen officers were disciplined.
Eric Gibbs, the chairman of the West Indian American Day Carnival Association, said he received an apology from Mr. Kelly after last year’s episodes.
“The statements made on Facebook were out of line,” Mr. Gibbs said, adding about the police, “However, we appreciate all they are doing for us.”
At their morning briefings, officers said, they were instructed only to “act professionally” — just as they are told every year. Paul J. Browne, the Police Department’s chief spokesman, confirmed that and said the department expected officers to act properly, in balance with having a good sense of humor.
Some officers held a hard line. One woman attending the parade, Chasitiy Potts, 26, danced in a turquoise feather headdress; a turquoise, sequined bikini; and leather boots. She said that on the route at Rogers Avenue, she tried to be playful with a police officer and take a picture with him and other officers. But they would not allow it.
Ms. Taylor said she had been to the last 10 parades or so, and some aspects used to be more fun. It used to be easier to join in and dance alongside the floats, she said, and it used to last longer.
“It’s cops and the violence, but if there wasn’t so much violence, maybe they wouldn’t need so many cops or maybe they wouldn’t need to be so alert,” she said.
Veterans of the parade knew when to make their exit.
“We come early,” said Ms. Miller, who had been attending for 40 years and added that the younger generation often incited violence. “Because later on, when they start running, we can’t run with them. If they start shooting, I call my friend to come pick me up.”
music coming from the colorful floats of the annual West Indian American Day Parade.
