HOUSTON: Determining the exact time frame of the incidents, when eight people were crushed to death at a concert Friday night in Houston, is an initial focus of the criminal investigation, the city’s police chief said Wednesday.
Eight people were killed and eight people were injured after a fan stampede during rap star Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival concert at Houston’s NRG Park. Police Chief Troy Finer told a news conference that two of the injured were hospitalized in very serious condition.
Investigators are probing the timing of the events, including what producers knew about serious injuries to fans prior to the decision to end the show at around 10:10 p.m.
Finer said a highly placed member of the production team was informed that cardiopulmonary resuscitation was being performed on one or more of the attendees.
The timing of events has shifted from what was initially understood, with the chief saying: “I’m not going to discuss the timing because I don’t have all the facts.”
At least 50 lawsuits have been filed against producers Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Scott over the deaths and injuries related to Friday’s concert.
Finer backtracked from earlier briefings on security staff and comments on an alleged needle attack on a private security guard. On Saturday, Finer put the number of private security personnel at 755 and said police were looking into reports of Sui’s attack.
The police interrogated the security guard who was told that he got the needle while helping a fan. But the guard disputed that someone in the crowd had injected him in the throat, Finer said.
Finer said the number of private guards was being reviewed and the earlier figure was no longer there. “Some of the records presented to us just weren’t good records,” he said.
He promised a comprehensive investigation, even as local officials called for an independent investigation as the police department deployed 500 officers to the concert. While the FBI has offered help, Houston police are in charge of the criminal investigation, Finer said.
“When I say we are looking at all aspects, I mean it,” he said.
Scott, whose hometown is Houston, said he was “devastated” by the events and would cover all costs of the funeral and provide assistance to those affected. He is also working with law enforcement and city officials to “engage respectfully and appropriately” with victims and them. family, according to a statement.
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