Astroworld: twin probes launched into deadly crush at Travis Scott concert
Civil lawsuits also under way after festival stampede leaves eight dead
At least two investigations have been launched after eight people were killed and hundreds more injured in one of the deadliest live music events in US history.
Houston police have said their probe into the fatal crowd surge at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in the Texas city will “include looking into reports that somebody in the audience had been injecting people with drugs”, the BBC reported. The surge occurred at around 9.15pm local time on Friday after “panic broke out as the crowd pressed towards the front of the stage during the rapper’s headline set”.
Scott – real name Jacques Bermon Webster II – has urged fans to aid police investigators and tweeted that he was “committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need”. But two festival-goers have launched lawsuits against the the Grammy-nominated musician, along with guest star Drake, amid allegations that the pair “incited” the crowd.
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‘Stop the show’
Scott was “likely to face questions” over why he “continued performing for 37 minutes after police and firefighters were called” to what was described as a “mass casualty event”, said The Telegraph.
The rapper “briefly stopped to alert security to a man who appeared to have passed out”, the paper continued. But despite cries of “stop the show” being heard from the audience, he “completed his 75-minute set” at Astroworld, an annual festival launched by Scott in 2018.
The ages of the eight people confirmed to have died in Friday’s stampede range from 14 to 17, according to Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner. The victims include “a high school freshman”, “a soon-to-be college graduate in mechanical engineering”, and “a young sports enthusiast”, The Washington Post reported.
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In a video posted on social media on Saturday, Scott said that he “could not imagine the severity of the situation”.
His girlfriend and mother of his child, billionaire make-up entrepreneur Kylie Jenner, added in a statement shared on her Instagram Story account that they were “broken and devastated”.
“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,” said Jenner, who attended the concert.
Some security experts have questioned whether the crowd was properly managed and security staff were sufficiently trained.
Although “it does not appear that Scott encouraged anyone to surge”, said The Telegraph, he has “twice been convicted for encouraging fans to jump security barriers and rush the stage at previous shows”.
Scott was arrested in 2017 “after he encouraged fans to bypass security and rush the stage, leaving a security guard, a police officer and several others injured during a concert in Arkansas”.
He had previously been “sentenced to one year of court supervision after pleading guilty to reckless conduct charges stemming from a 2015 incident in Chicago at the Lollapalooza music festival”, the paper added.
In the wake of last week’s stampede, a fan who was “paralysed after falling from a balcony during a Scott concert in 2017 has blasted the singer for putting fans' safety at risk”, the Daily Mail reported.
Kyle Green, now 27, “says he was forced over the edge of a balcony” after Scott “encouraged another fan to jump off” during a show in New York City.
Green’s lawyer, Howard Hershenhorn, told Rolling Stone that the Astroworld tragedy “could have been avoided” if the rapper “learned his lesson” and “changed his attitude about inciting people to behave in such a reckless manner”.
Red flags
According to analysis of footage posted on social media, “concert staff ignored pleas from fans to halt the show, including some who climbed onto camera platforms to point out others who had collapsed and needed medical attention”, said the Houston Chronicle.
Footage captured by attendees “raises questions about the official timeline of events put forth by local officials”, the paper added, as well as “the swiftness of their response and their ability to communicate effectively with concert promoters during the disaster”.
A criminal investigation is now under way to determine exactly what happened. Jodi Silva, a spokesperson for the Houston Police Department, said yesterday that the “all-encompassing” probe was being led by the force’s homicide division.
A separate probe has been launched into claims that “someone in the audience” was “injecting people with drugs” in the run-up to the crush, ITV News reported.
Houston Police chief Troy Finner said the alleged suspicious activity included claims that a security guard lost consciousness after feeling a prick in his neck. The guard was revived by first responders with “the opioid antidote Narcan”, the broadcaster added.
According to The Washington Post, a video reconstruction of the concert suggests that “it’s not clear how many of the cries” from the audience were heard by Scott, who was “wearing in-ear monitors”. He paused the performance “at least four times”, before “the concert stopped roughly an hour after videos from the crowd showed concertgoers in distress”.
“Eyewitness accounts of how warnings were allegedly ignored could feature in at least two investigations,” said The Guardian. The Houston Chronicle reported that “the concert began with early signs of trouble” as “hundreds of Scott’s fans stormed a VIP security checkpoint”.
One concert-goer told the local paper that there were other red flags, including a woman who had passed out by a concession stand being treated by friends, with no medical staff in sight.
“What was out of the norm was the amount of excessive force audience members were using to get close to the stage,” the witness added.
‘Predictable and preventable’
Entertainment magazine Billboard yesterday reported that “Scott and other organisers” of the festival are already facing lawsuits over the fatal concert.
Lawyers representing injured festival-goer Manuel Souza filed a petition in Harris County District Court on Saturday over what he described as a “predictable and preventable tragedy”. The lawsuit against Scott, organiser ScoreMore and concert giant Live Nation claims the disaster was the direct result of “a motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety” and “encouragement of violence”.
The “defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner”, said the lawsuit. “Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviours.”
According to the Daily Mail, a second attendee, Kristian Paredes, has also filed a lawsuit against Scott, guest star Drake and the organisers, alleging “negligence”.
In a filing seen by the paper, Paredes accuses the two rappers of continuing to perform as “the crowd became out of control” and “while the crowd mayhem continued”.The claim also alleges that many people in the crowd “begged security guards hired by Live Nation Entertainment for help, but were ignored”.
Each of the lawsuits are reportedly seeking at least $1m in damages. Scott, Drake and the organisers have yet to respond to the filings.
The cases are “the first of many lawsuits that are expected to be filed over” what “appears to be one of the deadliest crowd disasters at a music event in years”, said Billboard.