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West Indian Day Parade Marred by Violence

By  Dan Rivoli and Ben Fractenberg | September 4, 2012 7:54am | Updated on September 4, 2012 4:23pm

CROWN HEIGHTS — The annual West Indian Day Parade was marred by violence Monday night, leaving two men fatally stabbed and another two victims shot, police said.

In separate incidents, two men were stabbed in the neck and died at Kings County Hospital, according to the NYPD.

Shortly before 6 p.m., Leandre Mallinckrodt, 27, of Monroe, New York, was stabbed on the corner of Bedford Avenue and Eastern Parkway, the main parade route.

Tony Johnson said the attack caused people near the parade route to scatter.

"I saw people running. I look to my left and I saw somebody lying in the middle of the street [covered] with blood," added Johnson, 57, a Crown Heights resident.

An investigation is ongoing and no arrests have been made.

A half hour later and 10 blocks away, police found Nifredo Veras, 26, a Bronx resident, with a stab wound to the neck at Sing Wah Kitchen, a Chinese takeout restaurant on 1394 St. Johns Place between Schenectady and Utica avenues.

Police arrested Gabriel Hernandez, 21, of Brooklyn, in that attack. Hernandez was charged with murder and criminal possession of a weapon.

And about 6:30 p.m., a man and woman were shot in the hip in front of 650 Eastern Parkway between New York and Brooklyn avenues. Both victims were taken to Kings County Hospital in stable condition.

It is unclear if the victims were targeted.

No one has been arrested in the shooting, police said.

Ira Lewis, 42, said "foolishness" is behind the violence following the raucous Crown Heights parade.

"They have to stop it so we can enjoy the parade," Lewis said.

Post-parade violence has plagued the festive and boisterous West Indian celebration for years.

Last year, a shootout involving police left one of the shooters dead and a bystander, Denise Gay, who was sitting with her daughter enjoying the parade on a nearby stoop, wounded by a stray bullet, according to NBC New York.