These revellers 'getting on bad' at yesterday's Supreme Ventures Jamaica Carnival Road Parade in Kingston. - IAN ALLEN/STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
AT LEAST one man was hospitalised with gunshot wounds while several other people were treated for cuts and lacerations after a stampede and ensuing panic at the National Stadium during Carnival celebrations last night.
The Stadium police say the incident happened just after 7:30 p.m. and resulted in chaos as hundreds of revellers fled amid a barrage of gunshots. Security barriers were pushed down and a number of persons were trampled as people scampered for cover. Several children who were separated from their parents and guardians were later taken to the Stadium police post.
It is unclear what triggered the stampede but revellers reported that a skirmish broke out in the crowd while Christopher Martin, last year's winner of the Rising Stars talent competition and Byron Lee and the Dragonnaires were on stage. It is reported that plainclothes policemen pulled their guns and moved through the crowd with their weapons aloft as they attempted to take charge of the situation. But this seemed to have caused further panic.
Emergency first aid treatment was applied to some of the injured at the National Arena before they were taken to the Kingston Public and other hospitals.
Up to late last night, police investigators said they were still trying to find out who had fired the shots and the motive behind the shooting.
The hundreds of revellers had gathered at the National Stadium car park for a stage show, the grand climax of yesterday's Jamaica Carnival Road Show.
