Several people shot near West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn: Police

Police said five people were shot in a fight as thousands celebrated West Indian American Day in Brooklyn on Monday.

A senior law enforcement source on the scene near Eastern Parkway and Franklin Avenue said a gunman stood on a parade barrier on the north side of Eastern Parkway’s Service Road and opened fire into the crowd.

A New York Police Department spokesman told NBC New York that the annual parade, one of the world’s largest gatherings of the Caribbean diaspora, did not appear to be the target of the shooting, which left at least two people in critical condition.

The investigation is ongoing, but a suspect has not yet been arrested, NYPD officials said at a news conference near the Brooklyn Museum. Authorities are searching for a gunman in his 20s who was wearing a brown shirt with paint stains and a black bandana.

“This was an intentional act by one person against a group of people. We certainly do not have a shooting or anything of that nature on Eastern Parkway as we speak,” said NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell, adding that the parade would continue throughout the night with a heavy police presence.

Participants in Monday’s parade included senior NYPD officials, Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer also marched in the parade and completed the entire route.

“I am saddened and disturbed by the horrific shooting that occurred as we marched together in the West Indian Day Festival and Parade in Brooklyn,” Schumer posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Thank you to our first responders on the ground. I am praying for everyone affected. We must keep working to end gun violence in America.”

In Brooklyn, where hundreds of thousands of Caribbean immigrants and their descendants have settled, the parade was first held in the 1960s.