New York's Labor Day weekend shootings reach 43 as violence breaks out at West India parade



The number of people shot over Labor Day weekend in New York has risen to 43, after violence married the annual West Indian Day Parade in Brooklyn.

The latest shooting, just a few blocks off the route where revellers had earlier filled the streets in colourful costumes, left a police officer wounded and a person dead.

24 people were shot in the 24 hours from 6 am Saturday to 6 am Sunday, leading to calls from Mayor Bloomberg for tighter gun control laws after the 'unconscionable' spree.



Outraged: Mayor Bloomberg called the shootings 'unconscionable'

The victims were shot during 15 separate incidents, and so far no arrests have been made.

In the latest incident a police officer was hit in the arm and hospitalised but expected to recover. A civilian died at the scene and at least two others were wounded.

Earlier in the day four people were shot and wounded during the parade along its route, police said. A 15-year-old boy was grazed by a bullet nearby.

Speaking to the New York Daily News, Charles Walters, 53 - who's 11-year-old son was one of the victims on Sunday - said: 'These people come with guns and shoot at anyone.

'They don't care if there are children around.'

Shaquan Walters was the youngest of eight shot in the early hours of Sunday as he partied in his Bronx back yard.

At the same party a 14-year-old girl was hit in the back, while a 13-year-old girl was blasted in the left thigh during the 3:39 am shooting.

Also wounded in the Williamsbridge shooting were five young men aged, 17, 18, 19, 21 and 24.

Police were said to be hunting suspect 17-year-old Oneil Dasilva in connection with the incident.



New York shooting locator map

The spate of shootings left Bloomberg raging yesterday, with the Mayor calling on politicians in Washington to enact stricter gun laws.

Speaking at the Christian Cultural Centre in Brooklyn yesterday he said: 'It is just unconscionable.We cannot tolerate it.

'There are just too many guns on the streets and we have to do something about it.

'We need the federal government to step up.Both ends of Pennsylvania Ave., both sides of the aisle.'

Mayor Bloom berg is a member of Mayors Against Illegal Guns and has rallied Washington for tighter gun laws in the past.

He added: 'We cannot continue to have these guns in the hands of kids who don't understand the value of life.'

The weekend's shootings began at around 6 am on Saturday when a 35-year-old woman was wounded in Brooklyn.

At 2 am yesterday a 30-year-old died from bullet wounds to the head and back in Flatbush.