At least four people were shot, two fatally, during the J'Ouvert celebration in Brooklyn early Monday despite the NYPD doubling its patrols and pleas for a violence-free night of revelry.
The annual pre-dawn celebration, which comes before the New York Caribbean Carnival Parade, was marred yet again by bloodshed, this time in three separate shootings.
Police suspected both victims, identified by sources as Tyreke Borel, 18, and Tiarah Poyau, 22, were not the shooters’ intended targets.
Last year, an aide to Gov. Cuomo was killed by a stray bullet fired in Crown Heights during a gang shootout.
The NYPD undertook what Police Commissioner Bill Bratton called called “an unprecendented effort” to prevent the violence, to no avail.
He and Mayor de Blasio did not hide their disappointment, but emphasized that the shootings were carried out by a small group of troublemakers who did not represent the vast majority of revelers.
“We will not let a few define the many. We will not let a few who do the wrong thing define the hundreds of thousands who do the right thing,” de Blasio said at a pre-parade breakfast.
"We don't accept the status quo of any violence. We will not accept it on any community. We will fight against it.”
De Blasio declined to discuss whether he’d consider canceling J’Ouvert next year “until we do a full review.”
Bratton said that hopes for a peaceful event this year “were very high.”
"We always...plan for the worst and hope for the best,” he said.
"Unfortunately despite those high hopes and all the work that went into the event, last night...we had unfortunate tragedy once again affect this event. That will not deter us."
Police have yet to name all the victims or suggest any possible motive, though Public Advocate Letitia James said, "We all know that the violence is committed by some gang leaders."
“There are more of us who love and more of us who are peaceful than those who commit violence," she said at a pre-parade breakfast. "We know that we've got a problem with gangs and we hope that they address it.
“The contributions of the Caribbean community will not be defined by those who are sick and demented and bring us down. We are more than that," James added.
The mayhem began on the eastern side of Prospect Park at 3:45 a.m. when Borel was shot and killed at Flatbush Ave. and Empire Blvd., NYPD Chief Patrick Conrey said. A 72-year-old woman was wounded in what police suspected was crossfire. Sources said she was shot in the arm. Neither victims were believed to be the intended targets, Conrey said.
A 66-year-old woman was injured while trying to escape the scene, police sources said.
Only 30 minutes later and a block away, at Empire Blvd. and Franklin Ave., Poyau was shot in the head and killed, police said. Investigators suspect she too was not the intended target, Conrey said.
Shortly before 5 a.m., a 23-year-old woman said she was stabbed near the same intersection and refused medical attention.
About seven blocks away, at Eastern Parkway and Classon Ave. at 5:30 a.m., a man was stabbed and taken to Methodist Hospital with non-life threatening wounds, police sources said. The incident occurred off of the official J’Ouvert route, sources said.
Then, at 6:45 a.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in the leg at Rogers and Clarkson Aves. during a fight between two groups of people, Conrey said.
Most of the victims were treated at Kings County Hospital.
The 20-year-old man and two older women were in stable condition, according to sources.
Revelers continued to dance and toss paint and baby powder, despite the police investigations along Empire Blvd.
Prospect Heights resident Jill Roberts, who hoped for a peaceful night of festivities, angrily denounced the gun attacks as “senseless killings.”
"I feel like I didn't have a J'Ouvert," Roberts, 42, said. She wished authorities would "tell these people to go home."
“It's not safe,” Roberts added.
On Friday, the NYPD announced the arrest of 43 alleged gangbangers and seized 10 guns in a takedown timed to tamp down violence during the weekend.
Cops doubled patrol vans from 25 to 50, increased the number of flood lights in the area from 40 last year to 200 and for the first year issued the J'Ouvert organizers a permit and designated route.
Flatbush Ave. was lit up like Broadway at night, and cops were seemingly posted at every corner all weekend.
For weeks flyers were posted on storefronts throughout Flatbush, Prospect-Lefferts Gardens and Crown Heights sternly calling for a peaceful parade.
"This community will no longer tolerate this violence. Do not shoot anyone. Do not stab anyone. Every act of violence will be fully investigated and prosecuted. This year celebrate J'Ouvert and keep it safe,” the flyers read.
J’Ouvert, which means "day break," precedes the New York Caribbean Carnival Parade, but is not affiliated with it. The celebration signals the start of the carnival.
Last year, Gov. Cuomo aide Carey Gabay, 43, was one of two men fatally shot in separate incidents during last year's J'Ouvert revelry, leading to renewed calls for an end to the violence.
“I’m governor of the State of New York. And there’s nothing I can say and there’s nothing I can do. And sometimes it just hurts,” Cuomo said at the time, making a passionate plea for gun control.
This year, de Blasio echoed that message.
“We need change in Washington if we're really going to get the guns off the streets. We need laws that make it hard for bad people to get guns,” de Blasio said.
Vendors welcomed the heavy police presence even if it meant sparser crowds and fewer customers.
"There's more police in the area and that's good," said Fort Greene vendor Gerald (Unk) Covington, who has catered to the nighttime party for the 23 years. "The crowd would be three times the size in previous years."
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