Sniper’s Log | Monday 2011-09-05 — I made it back to New York just in time to catch the annual West Indian Day parade, in my old hometown, Crown Heights, Brooklyn. Usually attracting over 2 million spectators/participants, its the biggest parade held in NYC and ties directly into my original roots — as a condensed version of the Carnivals hosted in Trinidad and Tobago; Grenada; Barbados and other islands in the Caribbean.

I usually spend hours back and forth between Sniping at the parade and weaving through the neighborhood streets to catch up with folks from the past — but made an early exit after my wife and I were nearly stampeded by panicked crowds fleeing from nearby gunshots.

This year’s event was unfortunately marred by an unusually high number of shootings throughout the city — before, during and following the festivals. Its pretty much expected at least one person will die during the event, but a weekend total of 67 shootings with 10 fatal — a bit ridiculous. Anyhow, these are some of the shots I managed to fire myself before making an exit.

Kurt Arnold

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