Astroworld Festival: Authorities are investigating how audience members were not able to escape a deadly crowd surge
The group on the sold-out Astroworld Pageant on Friday evening was so tightly packed that when viewers members had been pushed towards the stage, some informed CNN that they had been crushed in opposition to one another to the purpose the place they could not breathe and handed out.
Native officers vowed to launch an investigation into what led to the tragedy on the music competition headlined and arranged by rapper Travis Scott, saying they may overview video from the scene and assess how the venue was laid out.
The investigation will cowl “what brought on, one, the problem of the gang surge, and two, what prevented individuals from with the ability to escape that state of affairs,” Houston Fireplace Chief Sam Peña mentioned Saturday.
The Houston Police Division’s murder and narcotics divisions are concerned within the probe, however the investigation will not be being handled as a legal one, police mentioned.
“We’re actually taking a look at all the video footage, we’re speaking to witnesses, we’re speaking to occasion organizers,” Houston mayor Sylvester Turner informed CNN on Saturday. “This occurred at one of many county services final evening, so we’re taking a look at every thing.”
The chaos despatched at the very least 25 individuals to the hospital, and 13 of them remained there Saturday afternoon, Turner mentioned. 5 of them are underneath the age of 18, he mentioned.
The ages of the victims who died ranged from 14 to 27, and the age of 1 one that was killed stays unknown, Turner mentioned.
The causes of their deaths are pending the health worker’s dedication, Peña mentioned.
“The group for no matter motive started to push and surge in direction of the entrance of the stage, which brought on the individuals within the entrance to be compressed — they had been unable to flee that state of affairs,” Peña informed CNN.
On Saturday, Scott posted on his Instagram account’s story that he is sending out prayers to the lives misplaced, including that he is been working with Houston authorities.
“I am actually simply devastated,” Scott mentioned as he repeatedly sighed and rubbed his brow. “We’re truly working proper now to establish the households so we can assist help them by this powerful time.”
‘It felt like we had been drowning in a pool crammed of simply individuals’
Sarai Sierra, who went to the competition to have fun her birthday, mentioned she noticed a number of individuals who couldn’t breathe after Scott appeared on stage.
“I really thought that if I fell it could’ve been the tip of me. I spent at the very least quarter-hour simply getting pushed round as a result of mosh pits or just because individuals had been ‘raging,'” Sierra mentioned.
Sierra, who attended the competition with family and friends, added that she noticed about 20 individuals who couldn’t breathe, together with one one that suffered a seizure earlier than her eyes.
“It felt like we had been drowning in a pool crammed of simply individuals,” she mentioned.
Nick Johnson and Angel Rodriguez, who additionally went to the competition, mentioned a crowded ambiance constructed up over an prolonged time frame.
“It was occurring for over two hours,” Johnson mentioned. “It simply bought worse and worse, everybody’s like, you simply cannot breathe, you simply really feel like there is a weighted blanket on you.”
And as soon as individuals had been pushed towards the stage, respiration bought more difficult, Rodriguez defined.
“Once you get pushed again, individuals all the time fall over,” Rodriguez mentioned.
Safety officer fell unconscious
Officers ramped up safety after the 2019 trampling incident, gearing 528 Houston cops on the live performance and an extra 755 personal safety personnel, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner mentioned.
Nonetheless, one safety officer was struck within the neck in the course of the live performance whereas making an attempt to restrain an viewers member.
“When he was examined, he went unconscious. They administered Narcan,” Finner mentioned throughout a information convention Saturday. “He was revived and the medical workers did discover a prick much like what you’d get if anyone was making an attempt to inject. That’s one a part of it.”
Moreover, there have been a number of different incidents Friday the place the drug was administered, Peña mentioned.
Narcan is a drug used to deal with narcotic overdoses.
Different makes an attempt to avoid wasting lives included some individuals administering CPR. Former Marine Lucas Naccarati mentioned he carried out CPR on two individuals who handed out.
“That was a distinct world. I instantly thought, ‘this isn’t OK. Somebody goes to die right here,” he informed CNN. “I’ve by no means seen a mass quantity of our bodies dropping that quick earlier than.”
CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Maya Brown, Keith Allen, Jenn Selva, Andy Rose, Artemis Moshtaghian, Jason Hanna and Claudia Dominguez contributed to this report.
