Despite the early violence, parade-goers celebrated their Caribbean heritage Monday.
Onlookers along the parade route waved the flags of Caribbean nations. Dancers in brightly colored costumes and feathered crowns shimmied their way along as steel drum bands played music in the streets.
“It’s amazing, like absolutely beautiful, to see so many different cultures,” Kalaysia Green said. “It’s gorgeous.”
Another reveler, Bassem Ashew, said people were focusing on the positive.
“Everyone is just coming together,” she said. “It is so beautiful.”
Cuomo, among the raft of state and local elected officials marching in the parade, connected the shootings to illegal guns.
“NYPD doubled the number of police they had on duty,” he said. “I don’t know what else they could’ve done, and I think the lesson is it’s not just about more police. It’s going to take all of us working together to make a difference.”
He continued: “We have to stop the violence, stop the shooting, stop the killing, and we have to do something about the insanity of illegal guns in this country.”
J’ouvert brings an estimated 250,000 people to the streets, and the parade attracts more than 1 million. The route goes through a major Brooklyn roadway, in neighborhoods that have a strong Caribbean presence.
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This story has been corrected to show police say the injured woman is 72, not 66.