The summer season of big parades and open-air festivals is over. And in this regard, several questions remain unanswered.
After the massive sequence of cultural parades that define New York City, the parade of the Western Caribbean Islands, known as the Caribbean Carnival, in Brooklyn, was once again “tainted” by violence: five people were wounded by gunshots, one of whom died on Tuesday. A fact that, as is so common, made the municipal authorities face the question: What needs to be reviewed in the security of this specific event? Should it be suspended to review until it is determined why this party almost always ends in fatalities?
At his weekly press conference, Mayor Eric Adams said that we are ending a hot season, where between July and August, large human mobilizations took place, with an insignificant incidence of violence.
“It is unthinkable to say that we are going to suspend an activity, which has to do with the culture and the very existence of our city, because of a very regrettable but isolated event. It is like saying that we must suspend the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade because of an incident. We will continue to work proactively with the organizers of these festivals, which inject economic vigor into these communities,” the president reasoned.
Adams noted that 25 guns were removed from the streets of Brooklyn over the past weekend alone. In addition, 10 guns were seized along the parade route, which is now in its 57th year.
“Let’s be clear: a madman shot five people, one person. When you look at that one person, who we’re going to find, you take them out of this violent equation and you have hundreds of thousands of people who came out this weekend and really heeded the call for a peaceful J’ouvert and a peaceful West Indian Day,” he said.
In the massive parades where millions of people participated, such as the LGBTQIA pride parade, the Puerto Rican parade and the Dominican parades in the Bronx and Manhattan, beyond personal fights, where knives and some violent skirmishes appeared, in reality, no violent events were recorded to regret.
At the same time, hundreds of concerts and events of all kinds were held in the five counties, bringing together thousands of people, with no bloodshed.
What happened at the Caribbean Carnival?
A 25-year-old man died Tuesday from his injuries after a suspect opened fire on a crowd during the Caribbean Carnival, traditionally held in Crown Heights. Four other people were injured. At the time of this writing, they were in stable condition.
It all happened when an already identified suspect, near Classon Avenue, fired into the crowd of thousands of people, who were enjoying this party with music and dancing.
The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the shooting was gang-related and an intentional act toward a group of people.
The mayor’s senior adviser, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, added that there will be an “assessment” of what the city could have done differently, “if anything at all.”
“The police, the community and different agencies will discuss what additional security measures can be used at these events, if any. We have to make an evaluation. We will analyze what worked this year and what measures we can take in the future,” said the official.
Sequence of violence
Last year, at least two people were shot and a third was stabbed at the same celebration.
In 2015, Governor Andrew Cuomo’s aide was fatally shot in the head during a gang shootout. The following year, two young students were shot and killed at a celebration.
Faced with questions about alleged security failures at these types of cultural festivals, which are part of the history of the Big Apple, Adams stressed that “the city will not be cornered by the numerical minority that participates in criminal behavior. We seek them out and hold them accountable. It is imperative that other parts of the criminal justice system do not allow violent people to easily return to our streets.”