A mass shooting rocked Brooklyn’s West Indian Day Parade on Monday, wounding five people — including two with life-threatening injuries, authorities said.
Photo by Gabriele Holtermann
NYPD brass defended Wednesday their response to Monday’s mass shooting that wounded four and killed one at Brooklyn’s West Indian American Day Parade, along with the decision to let the festivities play out despite the loss of life.
Top brass, during a One Police Plaza press conference on Sept. 4, charged that the Labor Day weekend was a safe one when compared to the notoriously bloody history of the holiday, even though a mass shooting rocked the parade route on Sept. 2.
Chief of Department Jeffrey Maddrey, in particular, went on the defensive, telling reporters that he had attended every parade since the late 1990s and that despite the deadly shooting at this year’s festivities, it was still less violent than previous years.
“Historically, this event was smeared by violence that occurred over the weekend at J’Ouvert and during the parade, but history also shows that the NYPD and the community have drastically reduced violence at this event,” Maddrey said.
Police believe the shooting was gang-related and a deliberate act, in which a man in his 20s hopped over the steel police barricades with the intention of gunning down a particular target. In the fuselage of gunfire, he also hit several bystanders in the process.
The victims of Monday’s bloodbath range in age from teenagers to seniors after a gunman opened fire into a crowd of spectators around 2:35 p.m. on Sept. 2 at 307 Eastern Pkwy. in Crown Heights as the parade proceeded through the area.
One of the victims, 25-year-old Denzel Chan of Spring, TX, was struck in the abdomen and succumbed to his injuries just before midnight at Kings County Hospital.
NYPD Deputy Commissioner of Operations Kaz Daughtery said the gunman was able to slip away amidst the large crowd as responding cops…
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