Police continue to search for gunman in NYC West Indian Day parade shooting

BROOKLYN, N.Y. (PIX11) -- A day after the West Indian American Day parade in Brooklyn, the question is how to reconcile over a million attendees and good times with a gunman who fired several shots into the crowd near the end of the parade route along Eastern Parkway.

Five people were shot, ranging in age from 16 to 69. One of the victims, a 25-year-old man, died from his injuries.

The NYPD described it as an "intentional act." It is unclear who the shooter was aiming at, or if any of the victims were the intended target.

The shooter is still on the loose, with detectives scouring the scene and surveillance video on Tuesday.

Mayor Eric Adams spoke about this shooting Tuesday morning.

"Let's be clear, one nut shot five people. When you look at that one person that we're going to find that shot five people, when you remove him from the equation, you got hundreds of thousands of people who were out this weekend and really heard the call of peaceful J'ouvert and a peaceful West Indian Day parade," said Adams.

Robert and his daughter Nevaeh said they attend the parade annually.

"This is a place where you come to have a good time. We don't need that. You got kids out here. We got women out here. Just come out and enjoy yourself and go home," said Robert.

The parade does not exist in a bubble but runs through the heart of Brooklyn, a bustling borough in a sprawling city struggling with what continues to be a national epidemic - gun violence; and this latest incident, not on a side street, but right on the parade route, is once again complicating the way we process an otherwise joyous event.

Rhea Smith is the first vice president of the association that throws the parade.

"When we have our celebrity presentations as a Caribbean community to celebrate our contributions and all of our hard work, that we don't have these issues in Alabama or Mississippi or New York, we want to make sure that the scourge of gun violence is eradicated," said Smith.

A.T. Mitchell-Mann is the city's gun violence prevention czar and founder of the anti-violence organization Man Up!

"We were able to create a late shift, from 4 p.m. to midnight. We covered up until a certain amount of blocks. But we were unable to cover the entire route. You can't be everywhere. These things are random. It's troubling because it could have been much worse," said Mitchell-Mann.