Rapper Travis Scott said he was “absolutely devastated” after a crowd gathered during his sold-out Astroworld concert in Houston, which killed eight people and injured several others.
“My prayers go out to the families and all those affected by what happened at the Astroworld festival,” he said in a Tweet on Saturday. “I have my full support to Houston PD as they continue to see the tragic loss of life.”
“I am committed to working closely with the Houston community to heal and support families in need,” he said.
At a news conference early Saturday, Fire Chief Samuel Pea said the incident came to light around 9:15 p.m. local time on Friday (10:15 p.m. ET), when “the crowd began to shrink toward the front of the stage.”
“It caused some panic, and it caused some injuries. People started falling, fainting, and it created additional panic,” he said, adding that the cause of death was not yet known for the eight victims, but It will be determined. .
Seventeen people were taken to hospitals after the crush, and 11 who were taken by ambulance were in cardiac arrest, officials said. He said more than 300 people were treated at an on-site field hospital during the entire event on Friday.
Around 50,000 people were present at the event held at NRG Park, which was hosted by Scott. The festival, which is in its third year, began on Friday and was expected to be a two-day event, but officials said Saturday’s lineup had been cancelled.
Colin Green, a festival goer, said that the crowd started going back and forth during the countdown at around 8:30 p.m.
“I couldn’t stand or breathe or anything, and I’m six feet tall and I had to look up to the sky for breath before the show even started,” he told NBC News. “As the countdown kept going down to zero, it didn’t make it through a full song before people fell and fell back.”
Green, who was on the show with his brothers, said that about 30 of them were “dogs” at each other and screaming for help.
“The people below were definitely suffocating,” he said.
The 16-year-old said he remained in the pile for about 15 minutes.
“I have bruises, my thumb is still numb,” he said. “I thought I was going to die. It was literally like surviving the fittest. No one could escape. I’ve never seen grown-ups fight for their lives like this.”
Green was able to get out of the pile and be safe. He said he saw two or three bodies on the ground and heard others shouting, ‘Help. I do not wanna die.'”
The crowd was so great that Green’s brother, Tyler, said his girlfriend had a panic attack and moved to a less crowded area before the brawl began.
“You were at your discretion where the crowd was pushing you,” said 22-year-old Tyler Green. “My girlfriend couldn’t handle it, so we left.”
Alleghiya Odom, 21, was also at the concert and told NBC News that the crowded crowd was “like this force on my back, this constant force.”
“It was scary, like, really,” she said.
“I started looking around, and there are people on the ground. There are people looking at me, like, scared, eyes wild, like, ‘Please help me,'” she continued. “People behind me are crying because they are being stepped on.”
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Odom, who has been attending Astroworld since 2018, said she moved to a less-crowded area because she broke her ankle and fears further injury.
She said she didn’t realize the gravity of the situation until she saw her mother’s frantic messages asking if she was safe.
“It’s just crazy,” she said.
He said Scott had stopped the show several times to request assistance for fans.
Footage posted on social media also shows the rapper stopping his performance, and The Houston Chronicle reported Seeing the fans in distress near the stage, the artist stopped his performance several times throughout the show.
The rapper’s girlfriend Kylie Jenner, who is pregnant with her second child, was at the concert with her sister Kendall Jenner. The duo shared videos in their Instagram Story of Scott performing for a packed crowd before the crowd moved on. No one has publicly commented on the chaotic incidents.
Houston Police Department executive assistant chief Larry Satterwaite, who was in front of the concert, told a news conference that the situation had developed rapidly.
“It’s like it happened over the course of a few minutes – suddenly we had several people on the ground experiencing some sort of heart rate or some sort of medical episode,” he said. “We started doing CPR immediately.”
At a later news conference, Houston Police Chief Troy Finer said there were “a lot of rumors going around” about the incident, including “rumours of some people injecting drugs”.
Urging people not to speculate, he said police were “determined to make sure we find out what happened,” adding that Scott and the festival’s organizers were cooperating with police.
Earlier in the day, several people were injured as festival goers reached a front entrance, NBC affiliate Houston’s KPRC told.
Odom said he felt it was the “first sign” of the chaos that was coming to the show.
“As soon as people started running, I was like, ‘Oh, no… this is going to be crazy,'” she said. “And the way people were running inside, it was really violent. They were ripping the wristbands of people in line.”
Finer said the deaths and injuries had nothing to do with that entrance, as the crush happened much later at the concert.
Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo said some people under the age of 10 have been taken to hospital.
“Our hearts are broken,” she said. “People go to these events looking for a good time, a chance to relax, to make memories — it’s not the kind of event where you expect to find out about death.”
The organizers of the Astroworld festival said in a Facebook post that their hearts were with “those we lost and their loved ones”.
He said he was cooperating with the police and encouraged anyone with knowledge of what happened in the crowd to speak to the authorities.
Governor Greg Abbott said what happened at the celebration was “tragic” and thanked first responders and the Good Samaritans for their assistance.
“The State of Texas stands ready to assist with the response, and I have directed the Texas Department of Public Safety to provide state resources to support the investigation,” he wrote in a statement. Statement.
Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner said he has called for “detailed briefings with all stakeholders”, including law enforcement, Live Nation and NRG Park, to find out how the festival “got out of control.” “
“What happened at the Astroworld festival was a tragedy,” he wrote. “This was a major incident that took place in the city and on Harris County property. Today, law enforcement will speak with concert promoters and witnesses and review available videos from the event and inside the festival venue.”
Scott, 29, hails from Houston. He launched the Astroworld Festival in 2018 as an annual event in his hometown. The festival didn’t happen in 2020 because covid-19 pandemic.
Their 2018 hit “Sicko Mode” reached #1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 that year. He has been nominated for eight Grammy Awards, including for that song and album “Astroworld”.