Six people were shot along the West Indian American Day Parade route in Brooklyn on Monday evening in a bloody end to the annual celebration that drew hundreds of thousands of revelers and candidates in the crowded mayoral race.

The roughly two-mile route for the official, annual parade kicked off at 11 a.m. on Utica Avenue near Lincoln Terrace Park, with festival-goers traveling westward toward the Brooklyn Museum, as a beefed-up deployment of NYPD officers had initially kept the peace.

“I like it like this. The cops are around. They are with the people,” said Harold Harvey, 71, a Grenada native who grew up in Trinidad and Tobago and has lived in Crown Heights since 1979.

“Their heavy presence will keep away the people who come to make trouble,” said Harvey, noting he was thankful for the increased security presence as he watched bands pass by on Empire Boulevard.

But mayhem still erupted despite the boosted police presence.

Later in the evening, six people were struck by bullets, including two with gang affiliations, in three separate shootings as the parade was winding down, police and sources said.

A man in his 20s was shot in the leg and a woman in her 40s was grazed by a bullet when gunfire rang out along the parade route on Eastern Parkway at about 5:35 p.m., police said.

The pair were taken to Kings County Hospital Center in stable condition, according to the NYPD.

Two more people, a 26-year-old woman and a 21-year-old man, were shot on Eastern Parkway at about 6:30 p.m., according to police and sources.

The man was shot once in the chest and the woman was struck in the shoulder.

Five shell casings were recovered at the scene, but the assailant is still on the loose, police said.

About 2.5 miles away on Nostrand Avenue near Sterling Place, a woman, 40, and a 53-year-old man were shot at 6:15 p.m., sources said.

All of the gunshot victims are expected to survive.

Mayor Eric Adams, Democratic mayoral nominee Zohran Mamdani, ex-Gov. Andrew Cuomo and GOP mayoral nominee Curtis Sliwa all turned out to the parade with groups of their supporters to shake hands with revelers ahead of the November general election.

A slew of other local leaders joined in on the festivities, including Gov. Kathy Hochul, who walked the parade with the Rev. Al Sharpton by her side, and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

Cops even danced in place as music blared along the route with parade-goers wrapped in flags.

Legions of New Yorkers gathered before dawn in Crown Heights for J’Ouvert, the traditional daybreak festivities that mark the start of the carnival. Partiers smeared with colorful paint, oil, and powder frolicked and raucously danced under the cover of darkness before the daylight parade celebrations ensued.

“We still enjoy our culture even though we’ve been living here for a long time,” said 77-year-old retired social worker Maureen Bellinger, of Trinidad.

“When I was young, I used to come with my mother. When my children were younger, I took them to continue the tradition … I’m having a good time. I told my daughter I’d go home after I see her, but I ain’t going home yet!” she said while rocking to the music.

Harvey also said the annual festivities helped him feel “closer to home.”

“This makes me feel good and closer to home today.  People waving flags from different countries, but we are all one. It’s a Caribbean thing!” he said.

A record number of NYPD officers were deployed to the festivities that have long been overshadowed by violence, such as when then-Gov. Cuomo aide Carey Gabay was fatally shot in the head during 2015’s J’Ouvert after getting caught in gang crossfire.

“Carey was caught in the crossfire of a gang shootout, a senseless act of violence while he was simply walking home,” Cuomo, who is running for mayor as an independent, said in a statement Monday marking the 10th anniversary of Gabay’s slaying.

“His life was taken at a time when he was doing everything right: Giving back to his community, serving his state, and working toward a more just New York,” Cuomo said.

Though the pre-dawn celebration hasn’t been marred by violence for three years, the West Indian Day Parade saw carnage as recently as last year, when a 25-year-old Texas man was fatally shot, while bullets injured four others.

Thousands of officers were set to attend the parade, separate from the 2,500-strong deployment in other parts of the city, an NYPD spokesperson said over the weekend.

Revelers passed through 13 security checkpoints along Empire Boulevard and Nostrand Avenue and were thoroughly screened with handheld metal detectors before entering the parade route.

Spectators also faced two rows of barricades along the parade route, as opposed to the one row from previous years. 

“I don’t mind being searched. It’s for our safety.  It’s a good thing,” Harvey said.

Another local reveler, Oslyn, who is in her 70s and has come to the parade since 1989, also expressed gratitude for the increased police presence and said she watched officers quickly break up a budding fight in the crowd.

“It’s good that more police are here. And you see the helicopter overhead, too,” she said.

“It’s deterring those bad elements, definitely. Everywhere you turn, you see [cops] and that’s good. I commend the mayor and police commissioner.”

Additional reporting by Haley Brown and Caitlin McCormack