Astroworld Festival – latest: Police launch criminal probe as Travis Scott promises to help victims’ families
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Your support makes all the difference.Travis Scott and the organisers of the Astroworld event that left eight people dead have been sued by an injured concertgoer who branded it a “predictable and preventable tragedy.”
Lawyers for Manuel Souza filed a petition in Harris County District Court suing Scott, event organiser ScoreMore and concert giant Live Nation over the Friday night incident, according to Billboard.
At least two investigations are now underway into the deadly stampede which took placed at the opening night of the Astroworld music festival in Houston, Texas.
A sold-out headline show by rapper and festival organiser Travis Scott on turned deadly when guests began pushing towards the front of the stage, crushing some and reportedly leaving them unable to breathe.
Officials said a 14-year-old was among the victims, and that a security guard may have been injected with drugs as the chaos unfolded.
The mayor of Houston has vowed to “leave [no] stone unturned” in investigating the disaster, while Mr Scott said in a message to fans that he is “absolutely devastated.”
Livestreamed footage of the event showed the rapper pausing his performance as an ambulance arrived at the venue, NRG Park.
Follow latest updates below:
Travis Scott to refund tickets for all Astroworld attendees
Travis Scott has said that he will provide full refunds for all attendees who purchased tickets to the Astroworld festival.
He will also not perform at this weekend’s upcoming Day N Vegas Festival, Variety reported.
Mr Scott was scheduled to headline the Las Vegas Festival Grounds on Saturday 13 November but he has pulled out, with sources describing Mr Scott as “too distraught to play.”
The rapper was scheduled to play from 10:45pm to 11:45pm on Saturday night, following sets by Lil Baby and Doja Cat.
Houston PD: ‘Our prayers remain with the families'
Houston Police Department released statement following the crown surge and crush at Astroworld Festival.
They wrote that their “prayers remain with the families affected by this tragic event,” adding that the investigation into what went on remains “very active.”
What happened at Astroworld? Everything we know about ‘mass casualty incident’ at music festival
Tragedy struck Friday night as more than 50,000 people gathered for the third annual Astroworld music festival, founded by rapper Travis Scott at the site of the former Houston Six Flags park.
At least eight festival-goers were killed and scores more injured after a “crowd surge” that forced organisers stop the show. Officials declared a “mass casualty incident” around 9.30pm Friday.
Eight people were killed in the chaos at the Astroworld Festival, and dozens more were injured. The victims who lost their lives range from ages 14 to 27, the mayor told a press conference on Saturday.
Sheila Flynn reports:
What happened at Astroworld?
What happened at Astroworld festival? Crowd surge meaning and how did people die?
Fans filmed jumping on emergency carts at Astroworld
Viral videos from the Astroworld music festival in Houston have emerged, showing the scale of the stampede that left eight people dead and hundreds injured on Friday.
Videos that have gone viral on social media sites such as Reddit and Twitter show medical services personnel struggling to go through the crowd of dancing concertgoers at Houston’s NRG stadium as they attempted to rescue those who had been injured.
Around 50,000 people were in attendance when part of the crowd began to rush towards the stage during rapper Travis Scott’s performance. At least two investigations, one of them criminal, have been launched into the deadly concert.
Sravasti Dasgupta reports:
Fans filmed jumping on emergency carts at Astroworld
Videos show medical services personnel struggling to cut through crowd to reach the injured
Houston officials concerned about crowd control before concert
Houston city officials and concert organisers had concerns over crowd control before the Astroworld Festival took place.
Two years ago, the last time Travis Scott held his Astroworld Festival, crowds were hard to control.
As a result, dozens more officers from the Houston Police Department and more private security hired by Live Nation, the concert organiser were added to help keep things under control.
The Houston police chief, who knows Scott personally, said that he visited Mr Scott before his show Friday and spoke about concerns about the energy in the crowd, according to a person with knowledge of the chief’s account, The New York Times reported.
The concert organisers had apparently created two lengthy emergency plan documents, one addressing the overall response to emergencies such as extreme weather, an active shooter or a riot.
The other meanwhile, dealt with the medical response The New York Times reported.
Travis Scott sued by injured fans over concert tragedy that left eight dead
Rapper Travis Scott is being sued by a number of injured concertgoers over the mass casualty incident that left eight dead, it has been reported.
Manuel Souza, one of those bringing a lawsuit against Scott, said that he suffered “serious bodily injuries” when the crowd at the Astroworld concert “knocked him to the ground and trampled him”.
He is seeking at least $1m (£742,000) in damages and names Live Nation, organiser ScoreMore, Travis Scott and several others in the suit.
Holly Bancroft writes:
Travis Scott sued by injured fans over concert tragedy that left eight dead
Travis Scott is accused, alongside organisers ScoreMore and others, of ‘encouraging violence’ in the concert crowd
Astroworld: Ye dedicates Sunday Service to those who died at Travis Scott show
Ye has dedicated the latest instalment of his Sunday Service series to “the loved ones of Astroworld” after eight people died in a crush at the Travis Scott concert.
On Friday night (5 November), an incident during Scott’s Astroworld 2021 music festival at NRG Park in Houston saw the crowd compress towards the front of the stage, causing panic.
A 10-year-old was reportedly among those injured, and the ages of those who died were between 14 and 27.
Ellie Harrison has more:
Kanye West dedicates Sunday Service to those who died in crush at Travis Scott show
Scott and organisers have been sued by survivors of the fatal incident
Travis Scott previously charged with disorderly conduct
Travis Scott had previously been charged for disorderly conduct in 2017 following a show at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers, Arkansas where two people were injured.
Mr Scott also faced three misdemeanor charges of inciting a riot, disorderly conduct and endangering the welfare of a minor having invited fans to overpower security and storm the stage.
Earlier, in Chicago in 2015, he pleaded guilty to charges of reckless conduct having suggested that fans push through barriers and mount the stage at a festival in Chicago.
“Everyone in a green shirt get the f— back,” Mr Scott said, in reference to the festival’s security staff.
“Middle finger up to security right now.”
He went on to lead the crowd in a chant of “We want rage,” the Los Angeles Times reported.
Nurse reveals chaos of Astroworld in detailed eye-witness account of crush at Travis Scott gig
An ICU nurse from Houston who attended the Astroworld festival on Friday said she had never seen anything like the “madness” before in her life.
“Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. I work at the ICU, I see people die every week. But it was absolutely insane,” Madeline Eskins, 23, said in an interview with FOX 26 Houston.
At least eight people died and hundreds of others suffered injuries after a huge crowd surge at the festival’s opening night. Around 50,000 people were in attendance when part of the crowd began to rush towards the stage when rapper Travis Scott began his performance.
Alisha Rahaman Sarkar reports:
Nurse reveals chaos of Astroworld in detailed eye-witness account at Travis Scott gig
‘Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw’
Travis Scott and organisers sued for ‘encouragement of violence’
A petition filed in a district court in Harris county, Texas, apparently sued Travis Scott, organiser ScoreMore and Live Nation for an alleged “motivation for profit at the expense of concertgoers’ health and safety” and the “encouragement of violence”.
According to Billboard, Manuel Souza, who was injured in the crush filed the suit and reportedly described it a “predictable and preventable tragedy”.
Mr Souza’s attorney, Steve Kherkher of the firm Kherkher Garcia LLP wrote: “Defendants failed to properly plan and conduct the concert in a safe manner.”
He added: “Instead, they consciously ignored the extreme risks of harm to concertgoers, and, in some cases actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviours.”
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