11/11/2021 Update: Since the time of publishing this post, one more person has died of their injuries. The total number of deaths from the Astroworld Music Festival Mass Casualty Event is now nine.
Approximately 9:30 p.m. on Friday, November 5, nine people were killed and hundreds more were injured when Travis Scott’s Astroworld music festival at NRG Park in Houston, Texas, plunged into chaos during his headlining performance. The dead range in age from 14 to 27; the youngest patient is only 10 years old.
Many are asking whether the tragedy could have been avoided. The authorities have blamed both the chaotic situation Friday and safety concerns at previous Scott shows, as well as previous problems with the venue and event organizer. Here is what we know so far about the awful Astroworld catastrophe.
What Occurred at the Astroworld Festival?
The cause of the mayhem at the sold-out concert hasn’t been determined, though it’s possible that one or several issues at the overran event triggered it. Public-safety authorities’ comments and witness accounts offer some insight into what occurred. “The crowd for whatever reason began to push and surge towards the front of the stage, which caused the people in the front to be compressed — they were unable to escape that situation,” Houston fire chief Sam Peña expressed to CNN.
Around 9:00 p.m., as the clock was counting down to the moment when Scott would appear, things got out of hand. Eskins and her boyfriend arrived at the stage around 9:03 p.m. to secure a position near the front of the crowd. About thirty minutes before Scott walked out on stage, the crowd grew more and more congested.
“All of a sudden, people come pressed up against each other, pushed forward and backward. As the timer got closer,” Eskins told CNN, “it got worse and worse.” Eskins added, “I had constant pressure on my chest … I was being squeezed … Right when he started performing his first song, I looked at my boyfriend and said, ‘We have to get out of here.’”
“Once he started, all hell broke loose. All of what is to be 50,000 people ran to the front, compressing everyone together with the little air available,” added attendee, Alexis Guavin, to CNN. “Luckily, I have mosh pit experience and am six feet tall so I could at least put my head up to breathe, but others [were] not so fortunate.”
Could People Escape?
When things started to go wrong, some audience members claimed that festival-goers couldn’t escape the crowded area. Eskins stated that her and her partner were unable to depart quickly because of traffic. “I just remember looking up, passing out, and then I was in and out for a little while,” she remarked. “I didn’t see anything, but I could kind of feel what was going on. Someone pulled me over a fence, and then I passed out again.”
The venue was said to have met the criteria for safe entrance and exit by authorities. Peña claimed that the venue could have hosted 200,000 people under city fire codes. For the performance, the number was restricted to 50,000 people. (According to reports, 100,000 tickets were put on sale for this year’s event; it’s unclear how many individuals were in the venue at the time of the incident since some non-ticket holders had broken down barriers earlier in the day.)
Officials claimed that safety defenses had been taken, declaring, “We had inspectors to ensure that the means of egress, the doors in and out of that venue, were maintained open and unobstructed.” They also argued, “These injuries did not occur as people would try to exit the venue. And that was evident by the fact that once the event was terminated, [it] was cleared out within the hour … What we’re looking into is what caused the crowd surge.”
Who Died at Astroworld?
Nine Astroworld fatalities have been identified.
John Hilgert, 14, was a ninth-grader at Houston’s Memorial High School, the local ABC affiliate stated.
A 16-year-old victim, Brianna Rodriguez, was a junior at Houston’s Heights High School. “Gone from our sights, but never from our hearts. It is with profound sadness we lay to rest our beloved Brianna Rodriguez. Brianna was one of the victims from the Astroworld event,” her family worded in a GoFundMe. “She was a beautiful vibrant 16-year-old high school junior at Heights HS in Houston TX. Dancing was her passion and now she’s dancing her way to heaven’s pearly gates. Anything to help the family will be greatly appreciated.”
Axel Acosta, 21, from Washington State came to Astroworld to watch Scott perform, his father, Edgar Acosta, told ABC13. His family informed all he was studying computer science at Western Washington University.
Danish Baig, 27, perished while attempting to save his fiancée, who lived. “He was [an] innocent young soul who would always put others before him. He was a hardworking man who loved his family and took care of us. He was there in a heartbeat for anything. He always had a solution to everything,” his brother, Basil Baig, voiced to the station.
Rudy Peña, 23, was one of the victims. “I am starting a go fund me for my youngest brother (Rodolfo Angel Peña)’s passing please donate out of heart anything is great,” his sister, Guadalupe, wrote on a GoFundMe page. “We will gladly appreciate and accept your donation in his honor by heart, Thank You. Rest in Peace and in loving memory of Rudy Peña.”
Franco Patiño, 21, was studying mechanical engineering at the University of Dayton, the TV station said. “He was talking to everyone how excited he was to see, to be there, to go,” said Julio Patiño, the fatality’s brother. “He was saving up money to go with his best friend Jacob.” Jacob “Jake” E. Jurinek, 20, who also perished at Astroworld, had been learning art and media at Southern Illinois University.
The Houston Chronicle reported Monday that 23-year-old Madison Dubiski was killed at Astroworld. “She was super bright, uplifting, and just an all-around sweet girl,” Lauren Vogler, Dubiski’s previous classmate, conveyed to the newspaper. “I cheered with her when we were younger, and she was always so encouraging. She was definitely the life of the party and loved by so many people.”
11/11/2021 Update: Bharti Shahani, 22 year old senior at Texas A&M University, experienced heart attacks as a result of the crowd surge and was hospitalized at Houston Methodist. Soon after Shahani’s hospitalization, she stopped showing signs of brain activity. For five days, Shahani fought for life on a ventilator before passing away Wednesday evening.
Was There Someone in the Crowd Injecting People with Drugs?
Possibly. TMZ related Saturday that “a source connected to Astroworld” articulated to TMZ “someone in the crowd went crazy and began injecting people with some sort of drug.” The Hollywood Reporter, citing two sources, said that “police were looking into a drug-spiking incident in an area of the festival where the chaos first began. The sources said it appeared to have been targeted at unknowing people, and that the crowd surge may have resulted from panic as attendees ran for safety.” The police’s first response to these allegations was that cops had seen the complaints and were “looking into” them.
Finner directly addressed the allegations at the press conference, stating, “One of the narratives was that some individual was injecting other people with drugs.” While it’s uncertain whether that’s the case, authorities do have an account of a security officer who was “reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and felt a prick in his neck.” When the officer was assessed, he lost consciousness, and medics “administered Narcan,” Finner said. (Narcan is administered to individuals believed to have overdosed on an opioid.) “He was revived and the medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a prick that you would get if somebody is trying to inject [a person],” Finner indicated.
At a following press conference, authorities disclosed that Narcan had been used “several” times at the show. Authorities did not deliver a precise amount of dosages, exact intervals, nor the particular situations under which Narcan was given.
The Fire Department stated eleven of the patients it took to the hospital were suffering cardiac arrest; it’s presently blurred what could have triggered that. Some attendees have articulated the festival medical personnel were inadequate.
Eskins stated that she awoke in a place where there was only one bottle of water, which she was sharing with someone. She told CNN that the only AED machine-accessible was located within an area with just one Ambu bag, which is used to assist people who are not breathing normally.
She went on to say there were “maybe” four physicians and declared that “one of them did not even know how to check for a pulse.”
“There was only four of them doing CPR” at the same time there were“three to four people in cardiac arrest at one time and one AED machine,” Eskins claimed.
Did the Concert Stop Right Away?
This is where the timeline gets difficult to understand. Finner said the Police Department watched attendees “going down” at 9:30 p.m. The fire department informed us they had been called in to assist a “mass-casualty incident” around 9:30 p.m. Finner said police officials instantly spoke to concert coordinators about the intensifying issues. Following talks between the Fire Department and venue officials, the concert was canceled forty minutes later.
Finner protected the extent of time it took for the concert to be closed. “You cannot just close when you’ve got 50,000 — over 50,000 — individuals, okay?” Finner reportedly remarked. “We have to worry about rioting — riots — when you have a group that’s that young.” Authorities stated there were about 528 Houston Police Department officers at NRG Park and 755 private security agents.
Were There Any Crowd Concerns Before the Clash?
Yes, this is correct. Finner claimed that prior to Travis Scott’s performance on Friday, he met with Scott personally and expressed concerns about the crowd.
“I expressed my concerns regarding public safety and that in my 31 years of law enforcement experience I have never seen a time with more challenges facing citizens of all ages to include a global pandemic and social tension throughout the nation,” he explained in part of a testimonial on Monday. “I asked Travis Scott and his team to work with HPD for all events over the weekend and to be mindful of his social-media messaging on any unscheduled events.”
Does Travis Scott Have a History of Chaotic Concerts?
Frequently so. In 2017, at his Terminal 5 concert in New York City, Scott called for a concertgoer to leap off a second-floor balcony, stating, “I see you, but are you gonna do it?” At the same time, a fan named Kyle Green was paralyzed after being pushed off a third-floor balcony, as stated by Rolling Stone.
In 2019, hundreds of people broke into the Astroworld festival by smashing through metal barriers. Three people were sent to a hospital “with minor leg injuries from trampling,” Rolling Stone mentioned.
The Police Department initially labeled the occasion as inadequately operated, tweeting that “promoters did not plan sufficiently for the large crowds.” The Police Department deleted that tweet. It then made a happier representation of proceedings, asserting it was “successfully working together” with coordinators.
Once again, back in 2015, the Rolling Stone informs us Scott was arrested in Chicago urging people to climb over security fences and join the stage at Lollapalooza.
Billboard made a publication iterating in 2018 Scott pled guilty to disorderly conduct for an episode at a Rogers, Arkansas concert. Rogers police testified Scott “encouraged people to rush the stage.”
Hip-Hop Lately likewise related Scott removed a tweet made in May appearing to condone smuggling in “wild” admirers into his performances.
Live Nation, which constructed Astroworld, has also been exposed to inspection for suspected security glitches, the Houston Chronicle expressed. Between 2016 to 2019, Live Nation Entertainment and Live Nation Worldwide have been “cited for ten OSHA violations and was fined for serious violations, including problems with a ladder, rope, and scaffolding that caused a fall at a theater in Connecticut in 2016,” the newspaper detailed.
Officials discovered “minor violations” at a venue in Mountain View, California in 2017 and in Washington State in 2019. A non-union faculty associate was taken to the hospital for incisions early September 27, 2018, “when he was struck by a six-foot steel post that fell in a staging area at another California event.”
The promoter was issued a $10,000 fine for that occurrence, per the newspaper.
Live Nation confronted a civil suit after a show-goer claimed she suffered a fractured leg while in a crammed audience at an outside Gwen Stefani concert during summer 2016.
Has Scott Released a Statement?
Scott posted a tweet Saturday, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.” Scott added, “Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life.”
Kylie Jenner, the girlfriend of Travis Scott, posted on Instagram in reply to disapproval that she continued to make social media posts during the occurrence. Jenner argued that neither she nor Scott realized people were dying or sustaining wounds throughout his performance, and only learned of the demises after the concert. Jenner was at the performance with their 3-year-old daughter, Stormi. Scott and Jenner await their second child.
“Travis and I are broken and devastated,” she wrote. “I want to make it clear we weren’t aware of any fatalities until the news came out after the show and in no world would have continued filming or performing.”
