Violent incidents continue to plague Brooklyn J’Ouvert
Officials, Community Leaders Search for New Approaches to Troubled Event
City Hall met the problems associated with Brooklyn’s 22nd annual J’Ouvert head on this year — requiring sponsors to obtain a permit, doubling the number of NYPD officers on patrol, illuminating the route with 160 additional floodlights and even circulating fliers advising revelers to avoid shooting or stabbing one another.
Yet despite these efforts, tragic events plagued the Labor Day festivities.
Tyrese Barel, 17, and Tiarah Poyau, 22, were innocent bystanders who lost their lives to stray gunfire that sent revelers running one way and the cops the other. Margaret Peters, 72, was injured by the same volley that cut down Borel, but is expected to survive. Another non-fatal shooting and a pair of stabbings further tainted out the pre-dawn celebration.