Halifax Regional Police say five people were shot during an event Saturday night at Africville Park when two men exchanged gunfire and shots went into the crowd.
Police said they were called to the scene following reports of a shooting at around 10 p.m. Saturday.
All victims were taken to hospital, police said, and one individual was believed to have life-threatening injuries.
In an interview with CBC News on Sunday, Const. John MacLeod said police believe both men involved in the shooting had left the area by the time officers arrived.
The park was busy Saturday with families gathering for the annual Africville Family Reunion, a five-day event that celebrates the history of the community, which was uprooted in the 1960s when the City of Halifax demolished homes in the neighbourhood and residents were displaced.
“We heard a whole bunch of shots rapidly and it sounded like fireworks,” said Victor Sampson-Carvery, who was one of many people camping at the park Saturday night.
“People were running, there was a crowd that came past our setup, they just ran past us and flew past us, and that’s when we realized it was probably not fireworks.”
After the shooting, which happened at the opposite end of the park from his tent, Sampson-Carvery said he walked “the length of the park” to make sure his friends and family were OK.
He comes to the reunion each year to celebrate his father, who passed away a number of years ago but grew up in the community.
“We come here to honour our families, to celebrate. It’s a very historic place,” he said. “These kids come with the violence, they should leave it somewhere else. It doesn’t belong here.”
All events planned for the remainder of the festival have been cancelled, festival organizer Vince Williams said on Facebook.
“I just hope that everyone recovers,” said Sampson-Carvery. “I hope some people maybe learn something from this too.”
On Sunday morning, police were still on the scene, said MacLeod, and an investigation is ongoing.
“We can understand why the public would be concerned over an incident like this, as we are as well, but we want to assure the public that we’ve got every effort going into this investigation, and looking into determining exactly what happened last night, and certainly locate the individuals responsible,” he said.
Many of those remaining at the park were packing up on Sunday morning, but Sampson-Carvery said the annual reunion will return next year, no matter what.
“Africville will go on because we’re coming back next year,” he said. “We’ll call it an aberration … I’ll be here with my family and my father’s spirit.”
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