Despite city officials doubling the amount of police and drastically increasing the amount of security measures, two people were killed celebrating J’ouvert early Monday morning. Tyreke Borel, 17, and Tiarah Poyau, 22, were both fatally shot during the pre-dawn prelude to the West Indian Day Parade that has been marred by violence in recent years.
Sources
told the Times that Borel and Poyau may have been unintended targets. A 72-year-old woman and a 20-year-old man were also shot, but their injuries were not life threatening.
“246,000 people went home last night because of the NYPD and we can’t miss that number – 246,000,” Borough President Eric Adams told reporters at a press conference yesterday. “Four of those 246,000 did something wrong and that is not an indictment on this borough or this community.”
Asked if he was considering cancelling the event altogether, Mayor Bill de Blasio declined to go into detail. “All options are on the table,” he said.
“It was not that long ago that the St. Patrick’s Parade, the Puerto Rican Parade was plagued by violence. The parade during the day – the West Indian Parade was plagued by violence,” de Blasio said. “All of those previously violent events were brought under control. We will find a way to bring this one under control.”
