WITNESS TESTIMONY
According to witnesses at least eight people were killed, and dozens more were injured in the crush that overwhelmed event staff and medical personnel at NRG Park. The victims ranged in age from 14 to 27 years old.
The concert was described as traumatic by attendees, with several witnesses reporting that they saw lifeless bodies trampled during the commotion. The music continued to play while those who survived struggled their way out of the crowd.
HERE’S WHAT THEY SAID:
“The crowd became tighter and tighter, and at that point it was hard to breathe. When Travis came out performing his first song, I witnessed people passing out next to me,” TK Tellez, 20, told CNN.
“We were all screaming for help, and no one helped or heard us. It was horrifying. People were screaming for their lives, and they couldn’t get out. Nobody could move a muscle.”
He said that people began to fall around him, causing him to fall as well. People piled on top of him, some losing consciousness.
“Everybody was crying; it was the scariest sound I’ve ever heard,” Tellez said. “Imagine listening to Travis Scott and people screaming for their lives at the same time.”
“There were just not enough people to help everyone,” he added, despite his and others’ attempts to give CPR to those who were unconscious.
“Travis Scott would have a short time in between songs, and we would scream our vocal chords out so someone could hear us but nobody did,” Tellez said. “This year’s festival will be stuck with me forever. I’ve never seen someone die in front of my eyes. It was horrific.”
“KIDS WERE DROPPING LEFT AND RIGHT”
The crowd surge that killed eight people on Friday night, according to Billy Nasser, was a “death trap.”
Nasser described how he and other attendees tried to assist those being stomped on as they were “fighting for their lives” during the concert.
“I picked some kid up and his eyes rolled to the back of his head, so I checked his pulse. I knew he was dead,” Nasser said. “I checked the people around me. And I just had to leave him there, there was nothing I could do. I had to keep going.”
“Kids were dropping left and right,” he said.
“I didn’t want to be a part of it,” says Nasser, who DJs and was at the park with his friends.
“While people were still dancing without paying attention to the bodies dropping behind them, I just wanted the music to stop.”
Nasser claimed that there weren’t enough personnel on hand to handle the circumstance after he yelled at the camera and light technicians, asking them to notify Scott to stop the event.
“There wasn’t enough security guards and there wasn’t enough EMTs and people helping out the crowd. The paramedics couldn’t even reach the crowd,” he said.
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