Africville family reunion organizer calls for safety review after shooting

The president of the Africville Genealogy Society is calling for a safety audit after five people were shot during the community's 41st annual reunion in Halifax over the weekend.

Irvine Carvery said the society's board of directors will hold a meeting next week to review the shooting and discuss what can be done to improve safety at future gatherings.

"The reunion will be on next year. We are Africville Strong. We are not leaving. We are not going to allow that incident to define who we are as a people," Carvery told reporters on Monday.

"The perpetrators that came in and did that are not from Africville."

The Africville Family Reunion aims to bring together former residents and their descendants. The community was uprooted in the 1960s when the City of Halifax demolished homes to make way for the A. Murray MacKay Bridge.

During celebrations Saturday, two men exchanged gunfire and the bullets went into the crowd, injuring five people. 

"There was one young lady who unfortunately got hit in the neck, and what I understand is the bullet lodged near her spine and they couldn't operate to remove it," Carvery said.

"So I don't know what her prognosis is, but she's alive. She is going to live. That's the main thing. We gotta give God thanks for that, that she is going to live."

Halifax Regional Police said both men involved in the shooting had left the area by the time officers arrived. The investigation is ongoing.

Carvery said he was in a van Saturday in the line of fire. Unsure of what he was hearing at first, Carvery said he dropped to the floor of the van when he realized it was gunfire, thinking "this van isn't going to stop a bullet."

"At least 20 shots went off and it was back and forth, so it wasn't in one direction. It was pretty scary, pretty scary stuff," he said.

The shooting lasted around three minutes, Carvery said. He said he called 911 and got out of the van to check on people. 

The police got there first, he said, and immediately started tending to the people who were injured.

"They came, they secured the site, they went directly to the victims and began administering first aid ... They were considerate to the fact that this was a reunion," he said.

Carvery said he's still processing what happened. He said the Nova Scotia Association of Black Social Workers will provide counselling sessions over the phone for anyone who needs it.

"It's devastating. We've never had to consider security out here. We've never had security in Africville because we didn't need it," he said.

The remainder of the events planned for the 41st reunion were cancelled.

Anthony Sparks brought his family to the reunion from High Level, Alta. He said his grandfather used to run a general store in the community. He said he hopes the shooters turn themselves in.

"For all the stuff that's happened here over the weekend, it's uncalled for and we need something done about it. For me, it shouldn't have happened because this is our family home," Sparks told CBC News. 

Sparks said this was his daughter's first year attending the reunion. 

"For this to happen, she can't meet [all of her family] now because they're all gone now. They've left because of this tragedy that's happened here," he said.

Carvery has a message for the shooters: "Don't come back to Africville," he said. "Whatever your issues are, seek counselling and have them addressed."