CLINTON HILL — Friends and family of 43-year-old Carey Gabay, a Cuomo staffer who died after being hit during a Labor Day shooting in Crown Heights, gathered Friday afternoon to remember his life at his family’s church in Clinton Hill.
The viewing and wake for Gabay, a Harvard graduate whose wife is expecting their first child, was held at Emmanuel Baptist Church on Lafayette Avenue and St. James Place, where he and his family have been members for years, said those who knew him.
“As a member of Emmanuel, he was well known. We were proud of him, as we are all young people who do well. [It’s] such a tragedy,” said a 67-year-old member of the church and Bedford-Stuyvesant resident who said she’s weary of ongoing gun violence in the area.
“I just want young people to live as long as I have,” she said.
Gabay was shot in the head on Sept. 7 in front of the Ebbetts Field Apartments in Crown Heights in the early morning hours of Labor Day during the pre-West Indian Day Parade festivity of J’Ouvert. He was hospitalized in a coma for more than a week and passed away after being declared brain dead on Sept. 16, his family said.
Officials said the shooting that killed Gabay was the result of a dispute between two local gangs. The NYPD has released a sketch and surveillance footage of possible suspects, but no arrests have yet been made.
Those who visited Gaby’s church on Friday were co-workers and friends from the neighborhood, but also strangers who simply wanted to honor a man they read about in the newspapers.
“I came out of respect for the family,” said a woman who came to the viewing from Crown Heights, though she never knew Gabay personally. “It’s so sad what happened.”
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is expected to attend Gabay’s funeral Saturday morning at Emmanuel, which is closed to the public.
