BOSTON (WHDH) - Boston Police Commissioner Michael Cox said it will be all hands on deck for this weekend to ensure this year’s Caribbean Festival goes off safely.
At last year’s event, eight people were injured during the parade after a shooting which occurred in broad daylight. Seven people were arrested in connection with the shooting, which police said was between rival gangs in the area.
The J’ouvert Parade is undergoing a significant change this year, marching through Franklin Park away from where the shooting last year took place.
“This is a positive event in our community,” Cox said. “You have an incident that happens and it kind of mars the events in general but the fact is, overwhelmingly, the people come, they enjoy themselves, they go home, and that’s it. We expect the same thing this year.”
This comes on the heels of a shooting at last weekend’s Dominican Festival held near Franklin Park, where officers found three male victims and two female workers suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot injuries in the area.
“I was very upset of course, hurt because again as a Caribbean-American woman, I look forward to, I need Carnival. It is like therapeutic for me,” said Dacia Shillingford-Compas, the parade’s organizer.
Now, entrances will be more controlled at Franklin Park.
“Over in Talbot Avenue there are a lot of side streets so it’s easier for a problematic person to get in and out,” she said.
However, Shillingford-Compas said she is excited for this year’s parade. It is set to begin at 6 a.m. Saturday.
“Come! Carnival is a wonderful, cultural, family-friendly event. My daughter is 13-and-a-half and I have never missed a Carnival,” she said.
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