Revellers in the 8000-plus band Poison scampered for cover along their parade route on Carnival Tuesday when several gunshots rang out...
News Source: Trinidad Express
It was when some sections reached the Marli Street area late in the evening on Tuesday that at least six gunshots were heard: "Everybody scampered and ran towards the Savannah. It was a mess-I'm never playing mas again. I spent $1,500 and what did I get for it?"
Another masquerader from Poison's Krakatoa section, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said she heard at least three loud bangs near Marli Street, and smelled sulphur.
"My whole section scrambled into the Savannah to get away. Everybody was trying to help everybody else get away. My friends and I decided to go straight home after that. When we were about to leave, we saw a police jeep coming towards the incident," the masquerader, who has played with Poison for ten years, said.
Several revellers from both the Golden Cack Fight and Krakatoa sections confirmed that, prior to the shooting incident, a DJ truck accompanying the sections continually called for the band's security after announcing that a group of young men who did not appear to belong to Poison were harassing its players.
A Poison section leader, who did not wish to be identified, noted that after the gunshots pierced the atmosphere she "ran around telling my masqueraders to go home, and then I got the hell out of there myself".
Poison's leaders have reportedly not yet met to discuss the incident but the section leader was adamant that "during the post-mortem (of the Carnival season) we have to talk about doing something; something has to change."
Efforts to contact bandleader Michael Headley proved futile.
