Three men were stabbed in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, early Monday, just hours before the West Indian American Day Parade was scheduled to begin, police said.
The violence unfolded around 5:48 a.m. near Carroll Street and Utica Avenue, where a 32-year-old man and a 23-year-old man were stabbed in the neck, while a 36-year-old man suffered a stab wound to the face, according to cops.
Emergency medical workers responded to the scene and transported all three victims to Kings County Hospital, where the 32-year-old remained in critical condition.
The 23-year-old and 36-year-old victims were listed in stable condition, police said.
No arrests had been made as of Monday morning, cops said.
The stabbing occurred only a few blocks from the pre-dawn J’Ouvert Festival, which starts at 6 a.m. and continues until the parade steps off at 11 a.m.
Police said this year’s parade will be shut down promptly at 5:30 p.m., a move NYPD Commissioner Jessica Tisch said was made after six people were shot during last year’s celebrations.
“Thousands of NYPD cops will be on the parade routes and in the surrounding neighborhoods from Sunday night through Monday. This is one of our department’s largest deployments of the year at this time,” Tisch said Friday.