Three Astroworld festival-goers including a 9-year-old boy are still clinging to life after thousands of fans rushed the stage during rapper Travis Scott’s performance in Texas over the weekend, Houston’s mayor and family members said Wednesday.
Little Ezra Blount, of Tyler, Texas, remains in critical condition due to heart, lung and brain injuries he suffered when he was trampled by the crowd Friday night, his grandfather Bernon Blount said.
“I’m angry because it’s disrupted our family, and this could have been avoided if people in positions of power had done the right thing,” said Blount, adding his grandson had been placed in a medically induced coma.
Mayor Sylvester Turner said an investigation is now underway to determine what caused eight deaths and 300 injuries and at the sold-out festival, which drew 50,000 fans.
“How did this happen? That is a question that remains on all of our minds,” Turner said. “Where were the missteps? Where were the failures? Where were the gaps? We owe it to the family members, all of those who attended and quite frankly the city as a whole, to the first responders, all of them, how did this happen?”
Turner read the names of the eight people killed, who ranged in age from 14 and 27 and came from Texas, Illinois and Washington state then paused for a moment of silence at a press event. He didn’t offer any other details about the concertgoers who remain in critical condition.
Emergency plans for Astroworld, which featured performances by hip hop stars such as Drake and Young Thug, didn’t include protocols for dangerous crowd surges, authorities said.
Since the chilling tragedy, more than 20 lawsuits — including one by Blount’s family — have been filed, accusing organizers of failing to implement simple crowd-control measures or staff the event properly.
The festival grounds, which sit on a parking lot that’s part of NRG Park, had not yet been cleared Wednesday as authorities combed through the area.
Part of the investigation will include determining whether promoters and others behind the festival adhered to the plans they submitted, authorities said.
Meanwhile, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on Wednesday announced that a concert safety task force will be formed to “ensure that the tragedy that occurred at the Astroworld Festival never happens again.”
With Post wires
