Nearly half a dozen people were shot after a gunman opened fire during a Labor Day parade in New York City on Monday, Sept. 2, with one victim losing his life.
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During a press conference, NYPD’s Chief of Patrol, Joh Chell, revealed that the shooting occurred as “thousands of people were watching” New York City’s West Indian American Day parade in Brooklyn.
The gunman reportedly shot five people during the New York City Labor Day parade festivities. One of the victims, Denzel Chan, 25, was pronounced dead Monday evening.
Chell believed the incident was an intentional act “by one person” and there is “no active shooter or anything of that nature” for the community to be concerned with.
He also said the shooting wouldn’t interfere with the Labor Day celebration.
“The parade is going on. It will go on until later on tonight,” the chief of patrol continued. “We have multiple cops working very hard this weekend, and working very hard today to keep this community and keep this parade safe. And we’ll be out here ‘till the wee hours of the morning doing just that — working hard, keeping this community safe.”
Chell then called for the media and public to assist in finding the gunman responsible for the New York City parade shooting.
“We do realize there is an abundance of video that was on that corner, in that group,” he shared. He added that the department needs the video. “We are going to solve this, but it’s going to take a lot of work.”
NYPD Says the New York City Labor Day Parade Shooting Was ‘Not Random’
Meanwhile, Chell told the media that the shooting at the New York City parade festivities was “not random,” referring to it as an “intentional act” that consisted of “one person going into a group [and] firing his weapon.”
However, Chell noted that at the time, it was too early to tell what led to the shooting.
Chell further shared that it is unknown if the gunman had intentionally targeted the five people. “We’re still working through that,” he explained. “When you fire a gun into a large crowd, we gotta figure out who was intended, who was not. We do not know that right now.”
According to New York’s ABC 13, the suspect is described as a male 6’2 to 6’3 with a slim build. He was wearing a black bandana and brown shirt during the shooting. After firing into the crowd, the suspect fled westbound on Eastern Parkway towards Classon Avenue.
Four males and a female were the reported victims.