NEW YORK, USA (CMC) – New York police have charged a 15-year-old boy in connection with the shooting of five people, including a six-year-old boy, during an unofficial Caribbean J’Ouvert celebration in Brooklyn on Labour Day.
Police said they have charged the teen for also being in possession of a gun. Brooklyn District Attorney, Eric Gonzalez, said he would also be charged as an adult.
Police said they charged another man, Kervins Noel, 21, of Queens, New York, for carrying a loaded handgun near the scene of the shooting in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn.
Noel was charged with criminal possession of a weapon.
Police said the six-year-old, his mother and the three men were shot in the feet or legs.
“We had two individuals pull out firearms and just start shooting at a crowd,” New York Police Department Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison told reporters.
Police said the incident occurred near a massive outdoor gathering of people celebrating J’Ouvert.
In view of the coronavirus pandemic, the Brooklyn-based J’Ouvert City International, Inc, organisers of the annual Caribbean J’Ouvert celebrations, cancelled all street celebrations this year, planning a virtual celebration instead on Monday.
The West Indian American Day Carnival Association, organisers of the annual Caribbean carnival parade on Brooklyn’s Eastern Parkway on Labour Day, which follows J’Ouvert, also cancelled the celebration and held virtual events.
But still, police said many took to the streets on Labour Day, a public holiday in America, despite official warnings to stay away and the ubiquitous presence of police.
Police said Monday’s shooting appeared to be gang-related. They said the teen was also a suspect in a drive-by shooting last year in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn that left a 33-year-old man dead.
Police said he was identified as a passenger in the car, but it was not clear whether he had fired the gun.
