NYPD Chief of Patrol John Chell on Wednesday addressed a shooting at the West Indian American Day Parade that left one person dead, noting that last weekend's event was much safer compared with previous years.

"When you look at J'Ouvert, the night before and what goes into the Labor Day parade. Let's put this in perspective: Years ago, compared to now, it's not even comparable. And I worked J'Ouvert since 1994," Chell said during an interview on "Mornings On 1."

He emphasized the department has been consistently stepping up safety efforts for the annual parade, which spans several blocks in Brooklyn along Eastern Parkway, but noted it's "tough."

"We were saddened by the event; our hearts go out to the family. One person in a million people at that parade does one act to ruin it for everybody. And that's the sad part. I wish we could have stopped that one person. But in totality, J'Ouvert and the parade, it was successful," he said.

Regarding potential changes to the event's location or security, Chell acknowledged the difficulty posed by the large crowd.

"There's upward of a million people on that stretch of Eastern Parkway, two miles. It's very tough. But, again, we'll have an after-action plan to see what more could we have done to prevent that one incident," he said.

Chell said the investigation remains ongoing, but authorities do believe the shooting was motivated by gang violence.

"There might have been a prior event across the street between gang members. So that's worth saying that this is probably going to be a gang-motivated shooting. It's going to be a tough one to solve. We do have some leads. The detective bureau is working very hard, and they will, they will close this," he