For almost 40 minutes after Houston police and firefighters responded to a “mass casualty” event at Travis Scott’s packed Astroworld music festival on Friday, the superstar continued to perform.
By the time he left the stage, it had become one of the deadliest concerts in US history. Eight people died and dozens more were injured.
Fans were filmed chanting “stop the show” and pleading for staff to help. One even climbed onto a camera platform to point out the injured.
The rapper eventually ended his set about 15 to 20 minutes ahead of the advertised time. But questions remain about why it didn’t finish sooner.
“Nine thirty, right there. That’s when a few people started going down,” said Houston police chief Troy Finner at a press conference on Saturday.
“Our people stepped up and immediately went to the producers and told them, ‘Hey, we got people going down.’ This show ended at 10:10pm. I just wanted to acknowledge that.”
Scott launched the event with concert promoters Live Nation in 2018. In a video posted on Instagram, he said he was not aware how bad things had become during his headline set this year.
“Any time I could make out anything that’s going on, I just stopped the show and helped them get the help they need,” he said. “I could just never imagine the severity of the situation.”
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