A man was shot and hospitalized after a violent brawl broke out at Washington Square Park during New York City’s Pride Parade.
The 20-year-old is now recovering from multiple gunshot wounds following the shooting as police dashed to the scene to break up the intense fighting that began in the early hours of Monday morning.
Both 5th Avenue and East 8th Street in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, were shut down just after 2am, with bullet markers visible on the ground.
Cops swarmed the area as they worked to piece together just what went wrong at the march, and who was responsible for firing the shots that left the unnamed man wounded in his buttocks and right hand.
‘The first one, I was running. I heard two, but I didn’t know if it was a shot or not, I thought it was like a firework or something because it’s Pride, you know,’ one witness told ABC7.
The victim was dashed to a local hospital, with police continuing their hunt for the gunman.
Footage from the weekend’s Pride celebrations showed multiple fights breaking out late on Sunday and into Monday morning, as massive crowds of unruly revelers turned up to take part in the festivities.
Some 22 people were arrested during Pride and the disastrous aftermath – with 16 people receiving desk appearances and release, while six remain in custody with charges pending.
‘This is really crazy, Pride is not supposed to be like this,’ a witness told the news outlet.
‘We’re supposed to come out and enjoy and you know just love one another and come together. And we hope moving forward there will be no more violence and craziness going on.’
Video from the jaw-dropping scenes shows large groups of partygoers embroiled in fist-fights and hair-pulling battles as they tackled each other to the ground.
Crowds gathered around to watch the chaos unfold, while others pulled out their phones to record the Lower Manhattan showdowns.
In one clip, a woman who appeared to be bleeding from her face while dried blood stained her white shirt, lunged at a fellow reveler as the crowds went wild with cheers amid the fighting.
At another point, two men were seen launching haymakers at one another before one stumbled onto the ground.
Just moments later, two women threw swings at each other as a a couple of brave bystanders attempted to break up the brawl, a clip shows.
Two women were also spotted thrashing it out as one pushed the other off the edge of the park’s water fountain – sending her tumbling to the ground.
Another brawler grabbed the shirt of a woman in pink and threw her onto the floor before she was dragged around by her attacker.
A small group of people quickly gathered around the bloodied woman and ushered her to safety, as she held her head and stumbled away from the fight.
Shards of smashed glass could be seen littered across the ground where people walked barefoot after having their shoes ripped off during fights.
But before the violence took over the celebrations, separate footage captured multiple women twerking on top of a whit vehicle and one person grinding against a light pole he had climbed to the top of.
As nighttime crept in, the NYPD played a loudspeaker recording declaring Washington Square Park’s closure and ordered revelers to leave the site – causing a stir between cops and rowdy partygoers.
It was not immediately clear if any arrests took place as a result of the fighting.