HOUSTON (AP) — Houston’s police chief said Monday that he expressed concerns about safety to Travis Scott before the rapper performed at a sold-out music festival where eight people died and hundreds more were injured in a crush of fans as Scott took to the stage.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner did not elaborate on his specific safety concerns voiced Friday at the Astroworld Festival, an event founded by Scott that was attended by some 50,000 people. His department has launched a criminal investigation into what went wrong.
“I asked Travis Scott and his team to work with HPD for all events over the weekend and to be mindful of his team’s social media messaging on any scheduled events,” Finner said in a statement tweeted by the department. “The meeting was brief and respectful, and a chance for me to share my public safety concerns as Chief of Police.”
Those who died at the festival include two high school students and a man who tried to save his fiancée.
The eight people were identified as John Hilgert, 14; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Jacob Jurinek, 20; Axel Acosta, 21; Franco Patino, 21; Madison Dubiski, 23; Rodolfo Peña, 23; and Danish Baig, 27.
Representatives of Scott, who has said he was “absolutely devastated by what took place,” did not respond to an email from The Associated Press on Monday.
Houston police and fire department investigators have said they would review video taken by concert promoter Live Nation, as well as dozens of clips from people at the show that were widely shared on social media. Investigators also planned to speak with Live Nation representatives, Scott and concertgoers.
Investigators were also interviewing witnesses and planned to examine the design of safety barriers and the use of crowd control at the event.
Live Nation said in a statement Monday that it has provided authorities with all footage from surveillance cameras at the festival, and that it had paused removing equipment at the request of investigators who were walking the grounds. The promoter said full refunds would be offered to all attendees.
“It’s not the crowd’s fault at all, because there was no way you could even move, it was just like a mass loss of control,” said 19-year-old festivalgoer Ben Castro. He returned to the venue Monday to leave flowers at a makeshift memorial that included notes, T-shirts and and candles. He said he didn’t know anyone had died until the next day.
