In the hours leading up to the annual West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, New York on Monday, a 43-year-old lawyer with New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo’s administration was shot in the head.
NBC News reports that the victim, First Deputy Counsel Carey Gabay, is currently in critical condition, according to the authorities.
The shooting, which reportedly took place around 3:40 a.m., was one of what NY Times reporter Michael Shwirtz referred to in a recent report as a handful of violent episodes which took place in the hours leading up to the parade.
Mr. Gabay, a Harvard-educated lawyer employed by the State, may have been caught in the crossfire of a shootout between two groups who opened fire on another just minutes before the 4 a.m. event known as the J’Ouvert Festival jumped into gear, according to the police.
While information regarding a possible suspect has not yet been released, the NY Daily News reports that shootout, according to detectives, erupted over a gang-related dispute.
Gov. Cuomo referred to the shooting in a statement as a “tragic” incident which marks “the latest heartbreaking reminder that the crime of gun violence must stop.” He went on in the recently issued statement to implore fellow New Yorkers to join in support for Carey and his family by keeping them “in their prayers at this time.”
Carey is a friend to all who have the pleasure of meeting him (…) I ask that New Yorkers join us by keeping him, his wife Trenelle and his family in their prayers at this time.
Shortly after stopping by the hospital to visit Mr. Gabay, Cuomo told reporters that he was “not doing well,” the NY Times reported.
This tragic shooting – this one by another seemingly random bullet – is the latest heartbreaking reminder that the crime of gun violence must stop. Enough young, innocent people have died, and it must stop now.
In other early Monday morning violence across the city, a 24-year-old man was stabbed to death after a large fight broke out at Bedford Avenue and Empire Boulevard. During the fight, another man, a 21-year-old, was reportedly shot in the buttocks but after having been taken to New York Methodist Hospital, his condition has been listed as stable.
In a separate incident, a 39-year-old man was shot and taken to the same hospital as Mr. Gabay.
