Houston Police Open Investigation on Concert that Left 8 Dead
November 8, 2021
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.”
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.
Story y JUAN A. LOZANO and JAMIE STENGLE for the Associated Press. Cover image of Travis Scott performing in Moscow in December of 2014.
Watch Post Commentary: Social media was aflame this past weekend as people took to sites like Twitter, Facebook and TikTok to talk about the Travis Scott concert at Houston's Astroworld where at least 8 people died last Friday. It's unclear exactly how many others were injured by the stampeding crowd at the event, but rumors have risen that some concertgoers may have been unknowingly injected with something while in the crowd.
Some have suggested that Travis Scott's stage production was fraught with demonic symbols, hypnotic lighting and sounds, and a general feeling of evil. While it's still largely unclear exactly what was taking place during this event, there's no doubt that eyebrows are raised and even Scott's fans are starting to sit up and ask some very difficult questions about the performer and how he acted while people were dying at his show.
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