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Funeral services underway for Astroworld Festival victims

The funeral for one of many youngest victims of final week’s Astroworld Pageant was held Saturday morning in Houston, as households and mates bear in mind family members who died per week in the past on the high-energy music occasion that became a nightmare.

Brianna Rodriguez, 16, was one of many 9 individuals who died because of a crowd crush at rapper Travis Scott’s music pageant in Houston on November 5.

Concertgoers have been crushed and trampled and struggled to breathe because the packed crowd surged towards an outside stage when Scott began performing, and accidents continued because the efficiency went on for greater than an hour, witnesses and authorities stated.

The ages of those that died ranged from 14 to 27.

At a Houston funeral dwelling Saturday, Rodriguez, a junior at Heights Excessive Faculty in Houston, was remembered by family members and mates partially as somebody who had a ardour and expertise for dancing, U.S. Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee stated.

“We do not know what her profession, her future, would have been, however her dancing simply received everybody’s consideration,” Jackson Lee, who attended the service, informed reporters outdoors afterward. “It was pure, in fact, but in addition you have been touched by this heat and loving household.”

“You’ll be able to see the real affection and the real management that Brianna gave,” Jackson Lee, whose district contains a lot of central Houston, stated.

Concertgoers have described the gang crush to be as terrifying as a “loss of life entice,” many considering they might not make it out alive. The attendees started to push towards the stage as Scott got here on, they stated.

“This was not a live performance; this was a struggle for survival,” attendee Jeffrey Schmidt informed CNN.

Authorities haven’t launched the causes of loss of life for the victims and stated that might take weeks. Within the meantime, the investigation into how the lethal crush unfolded stays underway.

With about 50,000 folks attending, the occasion’s security measures have come beneath scrutiny. A slew of lawsuits have been filed towards Scott, the pageant organizer and others concerned by the households of the victims and the survivors.

On Friday, lawyer Ben Crump, together with a coalition of Houston attorneys, introduced they signify greater than 200 victims who attended the pageant and have filed greater than 90 lawsuits in Harris County Civil Court docket towards promoter Reside Nation and others concerned within the deadly occasion.

“A few of these victims have been catastrophically injured,” stated Crump, asking for continued prayers for his 9-year-old shopper, who stays in a coma.

Reside Nation stated November 6 it was “heartbroken” over Astroworld and is cooperating with authorities as they examine why the occasion turned lethal. On Monday, the corporate stated it was “engaged on methods to help attendees, the households of victims, and employees” by offering psychological well being counseling and can assist with hospital prices.

Houston officers have pointed to the artist and others concerned within the occasion as accountable for the chaos that unfolded that night time.

Scott has stated he was not conscious of what was taking place within the crowd throughout his set — disputing metropolis officers’ account of his duty within the tragic occasions.

NEW DETAILS EMERGE

Though a number of accounts say the worst of the gang surge occurred round 9 p.m. CT November 5, crimson flags have been seen a lot earlier within the day.

Shortly after the 9 a.m. begin of the pageant, spectators had already breached the primary gate, based on the handwritten logs obtained by CNN on Friday.

Not less than eight extra breaches can be reported all through the day, with 3,000 to five,000 concertgoers that have been “not scanned” coming into the venue by 5:05 p.m., the logs present.

The logs reveal that a number of attendees have been injured and dropped at the hospital within the morning and afternoon. And shortly earlier than 5 p.m., the Houston Police Division reported “harmful crowd situations” at one stage.

Eight minutes earlier than Scott took the stage at 9 p.m., greater than 260 folks had already been handled, based on the logs, which didn’t specify the kind of therapy. And a 9:18 p.m. entry famous a “crush damage.”

Lower than half an hour into Scott’s efficiency, the log states: “That is when all of it received actual.”

“A number of folks trampled, handed out at entrance of stage” at 9:33 p.m, police reported. Shortly after, a police operator reported 5 911 calls about “unconscious individuals in crowd. Report of attainable CPR.”

A mass casualty incident was reported at 9:52 p.m., the logs present. From 10 p.m. to about 11:40 p.m., 17 folks had been despatched to hospitals, together with a minimum of six folks in cardiac arrest.

LAWYER SAYS SCOTT DID NOT KNOW OF MASS CASUALTIES

It’s unclear what Scott noticed from the stage and whether or not he was conscious of the gang situations, however he continued to carry out till about 10:10 p.m.

Scott didn’t know of the mass casualty declaration, or the complete scope of what had occurred, till the next morning, his lawyer stated Friday.

“That (mass casualty declaration) by no means received to Travis, that by no means received to Travis’s crew,” lawyer Ed McPherson informed ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“He is up there attempting to carry out. He doesn’t have any skill to know what is going on on down under.”

Scott was “on a riser at one level and he sees one boy down… stops the present, [and] he requested safety to get to that individual,” McPherson informed ABC.

“Perceive that when he is up on the stage, and he has flash pots going off round him and he has an ear monitor that has music blasting by it and his personal voice — he cannot hear something, he cannot see something,” McPherson added.

FUNERAL SERVICES PLANNED FOR VICTIMS

Scott has stated he was devastated by the tragedy, including that he’ll cowl all funeral prices for the victims in addition to assist fund psychological well being help for these affected.

Not less than two funerals have been held earlier than Saturday, and extra are scheduled over the following week, based on relations and notices posted by varied funeral properties.

The funeral for Danish Baig, 27, who died attempting to avoid wasting his fiancée, was held November 7 in Colleyville, Texas, his brother, Basil Baig, informed CNN.

One other brother, Mirza Ammar Baig, stated that Danish had deliberate to purchase a home for his or her mother and father by the tip of the month.

“It is insufferable. It is unspeakable,” he stated of his brother’s loss of life. “I am the older brother, however he was the older brother to me. He led this household in a route that I could not have executed in another method. … To get up and never have the ability to hear his voice, to the touch him, to kiss him, to inform him how a lot we love him, it is not going to occur anymore. And the way in which he left this world, it is not simply.”

On Friday, the funeral for Rodolfo Peña, a 23-year-old who learning at Laredo School, was held Friday in Laredo, based on the funeral dwelling.

“Though Rudy had many optimistic attributes, the one attribute that stands out above all the remainder was his contagious, warming, honest smile,” his obituary reads.

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