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 9.
A Travis Scott concert in Houston on Saturday night resulted in at least eight deaths and more than 70 injuries when a huge crowd surged toward the front of the stage. Around 50,000 people attended the event, according to video footage.
At least eight people were murdered, and dozens more were wounded at a music event in Houston on Friday night, according to city officials, who held a press conference Saturday afternoon. According to reports, the crush of people pushing toward the front of the stage began when approximately 20,000 concertgoers packed into the venue.
During a performance by rapper Travis Scott, the crowd surge “caused some panic and began causing some injuries,” according to Fire Chief Samuel Peña. The concert was part of the Astroworld music festival, which began on Friday and ended on Saturday. According to the Fire Department, around 50,000 people attended the event on Friday night.
Nick Johnson, 17, claims, “It was like hell. Everybody was just in the back, trying to rush to the front.”
The Houston Police Department’s “total support” as it looked into the deaths of Mr. Scott and Ms. Smith was conveyed in a statement published on Twitter by him. He added, “My sympathies go out to the families and everyone affected by what occurred at Astroworld Festival. I am dedicated to working with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need.”
The event’s organizers announced on Instagram that they were “providing every assistance to local authorities as efficiently as possible,” and that the festival’s second day had been canceled.
According to Peña, 23 individuals were taken to hospitals around the area by emergency personnel. Of those patients, 11 were in cardiac arrest, he reported. Over 300 people received care at a “field hospital” set up on the site, according to him.
Chief Peña said the medical examiner, who is conducting an investigation into the situation, will determine the precise causes of death.
Many aspects of the event, such as what caused the crowd to surge forward, are still unclear, according to Houston Police Department Deputy Chief Troy Finner.
“I’m sending investigators to the hospitals since we simply don’t know yet. We’ll do an investigation and find out since it’s not fair to producers, or anybody else involved, until we figure out what caused the surge.”
“It came on fast,” said Larry Satterwhite, the Houston police’s executive assistant chief. He explained that several persons in the crowd fell to the ground and started having what he termed a medical episode at one time.
The performance was halted in the interest of public safety, according to Chief Satterwhite. Live Nation, the company running the festival, consented to stop it early owing to public safety concerns.
Concert-goer Neema Djavadzadeh specified the show was, “hectic from the beginning.” Djavadzadeh went on to say, “I got there around 3 and saw people already struggling to stand straight. There was a lot of mob mentality going on, people willing to do whatever to be in line for merch, food, shows, you name it. A lot of fights broke out throughout the day.”
Angel Rodriguez mentioned in a Saturday morning interview, “Travis Scott, he took pauses to point at the crowd to say, like, ‘Go help them — they’re passed out.’” Rodriguez followed up with, “He (Travis Scott) did it like three times. He pointed to the area where it was and said for everybody in the area to go help them and bring them to the front.”
Governor Greg Abbott spoke about Saturday detailing, “What happened at Astroworld Festival last night was tragic, and our hearts are with those who lost their lives and those who were injured in the terrifying crowd surge.”
