FEST HORROR
Boy, 6, among 5 shot at unofficial J’Ouvert
Five people, including a 6year-old boy and his mom, were wounded in a hail of gunfire while celebrating J’Ouvert in Brooklyn early Monday, police said.
Shots rang out on Nostrand Ave. and Crown St. at 2:54 a.m. as crowds gathered to celebrate. Due to coronavirus, J’Ouvert was officially canceled this year, along with the New York Caribbean Carnival Parade that traditionally follows it — but some revelers still took to the streets.
“We had two individuals that pulled out firearms and started shooting into the crowd,” NYPD Chief of Detectives Rodney Harrison said at the scene of the shooting hours later, where the sidewalks were still stained with blood. “The shooters were walking, they were walking down the block.”
Surveillance video from a local bodega shows dozens of people running down the sidewalk to get away from the gunmen. One man, wearing a white surgical mask, is knocked off his feet in the tumult.
Cell phone video, taken by a witness and viewed by the Daily News, shows the 6-yearold boy, who was blasted in the left leg, lying on the sidewalk screaming in pain as a woman tries to comfort him and bystanders panic. The boy sports a cast on his right arm.
A few paces away, a man lies motionless, bleeding on the sidewalk.
“Police! Somebody got shot! The kid is bleeding,” a horrified bystander can be heard shouting repeatedly.
In addition to the wounded boy, his 47-year-old mother and a 40-year-old man were both shot in their left foot, and a 45-year-old man and a 34year-old man were each blasted in their right leg, cops said.
All five victims were taken to local hospitals and expected to recover.
Two men carrying firearms were taken into custody at the scene. Charges against them were pending.
“We’ll investigate it very thoroughly, and we’ll get to the bottom of it,” Harrison said. “It looks like it’s unfortunately a gang-related shooting. This is a notorious gang area that we’ve unfortunately had problems with in the past.”
Neighbors identified the wounded mom as Patricia Brathwaite.
“I can’t believe it. A lot of times you hear about shooting, but when it’s someone you know, it’s really a wakeup call,” said neighbor Judy Hunter, 49. “There’s good people in the community, and everyone’s out here just trying to live their lives. So for these idiots to come out and start shooting, these are your brothers and sisters.”
Brathwaite, a Barbados native with two adult daughters, works as a hotel manager in downtown Brooklyn, Hunter said.
“All through COVID, she was working,” Hunter said.
“She’s a loving mother,” said a 77-year-old neighbor who gave her name only as Evelyn K. “She’s a beautiful person, very hardworking. Sometimes we stand around and cut the breeze.”
“He’s a badass,” she said of Brathwaite’s wounded son. “I love him.”
Evelyn K. was awakened by the sounds of shots fired, but went back to sleep, learning only in the morning that her neighbors were struck by the bullets.
“I was shocked because she’s a good person,” she said of Brathwaite. “I hope she’s gonna be all right. I hope these bullets that caught them won’t be too damaging.”
Some past J’Ouvert celebrations have been marred by gun violence. In recent years, the NYPD and the community have worked together to try to ensure a safe event.
“Because there was no J’Ouvert, people chose to maybe have a barbecue or an event playing music in front of their house,” Harrison said of this year’s long Labor Day weekend. “Nothing wrong with that, we actually promote that. But doesn’t mean that people should come out and start shooting.”
Public Advocate Jumaane Williams, however, warned against linking the violence to J’Ouvert.
“This community deals with violence outside of this weekend. This is not a oneweekend thing,” he said. “What we tend to do is, anything that happens, we blame everything on J’Ouvert.”
Latrice Eleby, 33, was gettingg in her car,, which was parked near the shooting scene, with her three daughters Monday morning when they discovered a bullet hole in the vehicle.
The slug seemed to have lodged inside the mechanics of a back-seat seat belt.
“She went to help her sister with her seat belt and she was like, ‘ Mom, you know there’s a hole here?’ ” Eleby said of her oldest daughter, who is 15. “She was very surprised.”
Eleby found out about the shooting only by asking neighbors on the sidewalk.
“I’m very sad about that,” Eleby said. “At the same time, I have kids, so I’m very glad that we weren’t in the car when it happened.”
“I really wish that they get well and that they’re going to be OK from it,” she said of the shooting victims. “Something like that can traumatize you. Especially if you’re a little kid. … As a mom myself, I’m very surprised and hurt.”