Shooting at Accompong during Maroon festival

At least three persons, one as young as 12 years old, were shot and injured following a dispute at the annual Accompong Maroon Festival in St Elizabeth late Thursday.

The incident reportedly took place sometime after 9 p.m.

"There was a shooting. Multiple people got shot, not sure if it is two or three ... but I can confirm that there was a shooting incident," said the high-ranking officer.

There was controversy surrounding the staging of the festival, which the Maroons were celebrating as their 284th anniversary. The police noted that the Ministry of Health and Wellness had informed that no approvals were given for the event. They also warned that the staging of the event would be in breach of the Disaster Risk Management Act, which limits public gatherings to 10 people.

However, Currie informed his followers on Instagram that the event would go on. In addressing the issue, he compared the event to the pilgrimage to Mecca done by Muslims annually. Currie argued that their spiritual and traditional rituals have ancestral ties with the marking of the Maroon New Year on January 6.

"This is a religious duty of our Maroons to honour our ancestors and to show the way forward for the born and the unborn. This is our way of life," he stated in the Instagram post.

Efforts by THE WEEKEND STAR to get a comment from Currie were futile as his mobile phone rang unanswered.