At least eight people were killed and dozens more were injured at a concert in Houston after a large crowd began pushing toward the front of the stage during a performance by the hometown rapper Travis Scott.
The concert was part of the Astroworld music festival, a two-day event that began on Friday. About 50,000 people were assembled there on Friday night when the injuries occurred, according to the Houston Fire Department.
It appeared to be one of the deadliest crowd-control disasters at a concert in the United States in many years, recalling the 1979 crush outside the doors of a show by the Who in Cincinnati that left 11 people dead and stunned the nation.
Here’s what we know so far.
The cause of the surge remains under investigation.
It was still unclear what prompted the crowd to surge forward, but witnesses described a chaotic scene before and during the concert, with many people in the back trying to rush to the front. One concertgoer, Neema Djavadzadeh, said the event was “hectic from the beginning.”
“I got there around 3 and saw people already struggling to stand straight,” she said. “There was a lot of mob mentality going on, people willing to do whatever to be in line for merch, food, shows, you name it. A lot of fights broke out throughout the day.”
The crush of the crowd was so intense that it left no room to move, some attendees said.
“You can literally jump in the air and you’re there in the air — it’s like if your hands are up, your hands are staying up,” Vanessa Johnson, 20, said.
The signs of trouble were not immediately apparent.
Videos posted by concertgoers on social media showed a chaotic scene near the stage, with some people in the crowd pleading for help and others unaware of any serious problems.
In one video, which was posted on YouTube but has since been removed, Mr. Scott was onstage and heard telling the crowd: “I want to see some rages. Who want to rage?” Moments later, he could be heard saying, “There’s an ambulance in the crowd, whoa, whoa, whoa,” apparently trying to calm the commotion.
For several seconds, there was no music. Mr. Scott looked toward the crowd and the red and blue lights of an ambulance could be seen amid the sea of people.
Then, Mr. Scott said, “If everybody good, put a middle finger up in the sky.” As the music resumed, Mr. Scott urged the crowd to make the “ground shake.”
The concert continued for about another 30 minutes, then ended with Mr. Scott waving to the crowd and jogging offstage as he said: “I love y’all. Make it home safe. Good night!”
Was security adequate?
The city’s mayor, Sylvester Turner, said it was too early to say whether the security operation was adequate or what led to the deaths.
The mayor, who has known Mr. Scott’s family for years, described a robust security operation.
“We had more security over there than we had at the World Series games,” he said, noting that the event took place on county property, with security organized by the city of Houston.
There were 505 event security staff members, 91 armed private security officers and 76 officers from the Houston Police Department at the event, officials said at a news conference.
The authorities elected not to shut down the concert too quickly.
Live Nation, the concert organizer, stopped the concert roughly 30 minutes earlier than planned, around 10:10 p.m. — 40 minutes after city officials said the “mass casualty event” had begun.
The Houston police chief, Troy Finner, said that officials worried that ending the concert quickly could make the situation worse.
“You cannot just close when you got 50,000 and over 50,000 individuals,” he said. “We have to worry about rioting, riots, when you have a group that’s that young.”
The victims were young.
The crowd was young. Eight people, ranging in age from 14 to 27, with one age unknown, died. Hundreds of people were injured, including a 10-year-old who was taken to a hospital.
Those who died include: Franco Patino, 21, a senior at the University of Dayton in Ohio; John Hilgert, 14, a freshman at Memorial High School near Houston; Brianna Rodriguez, 16, a student at Heights High School in Houston; Rudy Peña of Laredo, Texas; Danish Baig, whose brother said he was trying to save a sister-in-law from being trampled; Jacob E. Jurinek, 20, a junior at Southern Illinois University Carbondale; and Axel Acosta, 21, a junior at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.
Travis Scott’s concerts are known for their chaotic energy.
Since emerging from Houston in the early 2010s, Mr. Scott has become one of rap’s most ambitious figures, pushing the boundaries of entrepreneurship and of the artist’s role as a purveyor of branded products and fan events.
The Astroworld music festival, now in its third iteration, is named after his 2018 album “Astroworld,” which drew debate in the music industry over Mr. Scott’s extensive use of retail bundles, using various merchandise items — sweaters, T-shirts, ashtrays and more — to help drive sales of the album and boost its position on the Billboard chart.
Mr. Scott has also earned a reputation for concerts that feature high-concept stage production as well as wild, chaotic energy from his audience.
In 2015, Mr. Scott pleaded guilty to charges of reckless conduct after he encouraged fans at Lollapalooza in Chicago to climb over security barricades and onto the stage. Two years later, Mr. Scott was sued by a fan who said he had become paralyzed after being pushed from a third-story balcony and dragged onstage while the rapper performed in Manhattan.
Soon after the Astroworld concert, Kylie Jenner, Mr. Scott’s girlfriend, posted a response in an Instagram story.
“Travis and I are broken and devastated,” she said, offering condolences to the victims’ loved ones. “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.”
Observers had criticized the artist and event organizers for not stopping the show sooner once the violence and chaos became evident.
Mr. Scott also posted a video story to his Instagram account.
“I’m honestly just devastated, and I could never imagine anything like this just happening,” Mr. Scott said, rubbing his forehead in a distraught manner. “I’m going to do everything I can to keep you guys updated and just keep you guys informed of what’s going on. Love you all.”
Reporting was contributed by Melina Delkic, J. David Goodman, Edgar Sandoval, Maria Jimenez Moya, Eduardo Medina, Azi Paybarah and Aina J. Khan.
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