Authorities said they’d analyze footage, interview witnesses, and evaluate concert protocols to figure out how eight people died at a Houston music event as fans rushed to the stage to see rapper Travis Scott.
Officials from the city stated Saturday that they were still investigating the chaos that occurred Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out two-day event in NRG Park that drew an estimated 50,000 people. The throng pushed forward as the meter ticked down to the commencement of Scott’s performance, according to one attendee.
“It was like an energy took over and everything went haywire as soon as he jumped out on the platform,” concertgoer Niaara Goods recalled. “Your ribs are being squeezed all of a sudden.” Someone’s arm is over your neck. You’re trying to take a breath but can’t.”
Goods claimed she bit a man on the shoulder to force him to move because she was desperate to getaway.
According to Mayor Sylvester Turner, the deaths varied in age from 14 to 27, and 13 people were hospitalized on Saturday. He described the incident as a “tragic event on many levels” and said it was too early to draw any conclusions about what went wrong. Dozens of people were hurt.
“It’s possible that this catastrophe is the product of unforeseeable events, of situations colliding that couldn’t possibly have been avoided,” said Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo. “But until we figure that out, I’m going to ask the hard questions.”
Experts who have researched deaths caused by crowd surges suggest that density — too many people jammed into a tiny place — are often to blame. Before hitting a barrier, the crowd is often racing away from a perceived threat or toward something they want, such as a performer.
G. Keith Still, a visiting professor of crowd science at the University of Suffolk in the United Kingdom, has appeared as an expert witness in crowd-related court proceedings. He stated he doesn’t look into eyewitness testimonies in the early phases of an investigation because emotions can obscure the picture and witnesses can only see what’s right in front of them.
According to Houston Fire Chief Samuel Pea, the arena could have housed 200,000 people according to fire rules, but city officials limited the attendance to 50,000.
“The issue was crowd control at the stage’s edge, especially as the audience began to surge toward the stage,” Pea explained.
The killings reminded me of a Who concert in Cincinnati in 1979 when 11 people died as hundreds of fans sought to sneak into the Riverfront Coliseum. Other previous crowd disasters include the 1989 Hillsborough Stadium disaster in Sheffield, England, which killed 97 people, and other calamities associated with the yearly hajj in Saudi Arabia.
During the performances leading up to Scott’s act, the Houston audience reported a lot of pushing and shoving.
The crowd seemed to rush to the front when Scott hit the stage, seeking to get closer to the platform, according to Nick Johnson, a high school student from the Houston suburb of Friendswood who was at the event.
“Everyone around you was passing out, and everyone was attempting to help each other.” However, you were unable to move. There was nothing you could do. Johnson stated, “You can’t even pick your arms up.” “It was only getting worse.”
Fans began to crush one other, according to Johnson, and people began to scream. In the crowd, he said it felt like it was 100 degrees.
Scott appeared to be aware that something was going on in the crowd, but Johnson speculated that he may not have realized the gravity of the situation. During Scott’s performance, supporters shouted “stop the show” from dozens of rows away, according to a social media post. Another video shows two fans ascending a ladder onto a platform and requesting assistance from a cameraman.
Scott could be heard interrupting the show and pleading for help for someone in the audience in a video posted to social media. “Security, somebody needs help,” he said.
Scott claimed he was “truly heartbroken” by what happened last night in a tweet on Saturday. He promised to work “in collaboration with the Houston community to heal and support the families that are in need.”
Because of the way fans were behaving — pushing and storming the stage barricades and forbidden VIP and entry sections a reporter, characterized the crowd as “aggressive”.
“It was by far the most hectic festival scene I’ve ever experienced,” Harris stated. “I had a bad feeling all day.”
At 9:30 p.m., Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said his officers spotted spectators “falling down” and quickly alerted the concert organizers. After conversations with the fire department and officials from NRG Park, the event was canceled 40 minutes later.
Finner defended the length of time it took to cancel the event.
“You can’t just shut down when you have 50,000 — over 50,000 —, people, OK?” Finner remarked. “When you have a bunch that young, you have to worry about rioting – riots.”
Gerardo Abad-Garcia was squeezed so tightly into the crowd that he couldn’t pull his arms away from his chest at one point. He began to be frightened for his safety during the performance that preceded Scott’s.
“I couldn’t take a breath.” “I was being squeezed,” he explained. He and others were aided in climbing a fence and escaping by a security guard.
During Scott’s set, he characterized the crowd as a “wave that was flowing forward and backward.” He claimed that some concertgoers attempted to assist others who passed out on the ground, while others appeared to ignore them and proceeded to watch the event.
Barricades built near the stage and to segregate different sections of ticket holders, according to some audience members, stopped spectators from fleeing.
A stage barricade, according to Billy Nasser, created a closet into which people were hurled and the door was locked. The barricades, according to Joshua Robinson, created an area that was “simply much too small and cramped” for the number of people present.
According to the fire chief, part of the probe will focus on how the area surrounding the stage was designed.
The causes of death were not disclosed, and the bodies were not identified right away.
Authorities were looking into claims of suspicious behavior in the crowd, according to the police chief; including a security guard who told police he felt a prick in his neck during the turmoil and passed out while being treated by first responders. Narcan, an opioid antidote, brought him back to life.
Scott, a rising talent in the music industry, established the Astroworld Festival in 2018. The 29-year-old Houston native has received eight Grammy nominations. He and Kylie Jenner have a 3-year-old daughter, who announced in September that she is expecting their second child.
At the show, which was live-streamed by Apple Music, Drake joined Scott onstage.
