Travis Scott will not face criminal charges for deadly Astroworld crowd crush
Travis Scott will not face criminal charges for his role in the deadly Astroworld festival, a Houston grand jury decided Thursday.
Ten people died and hundreds more were injured in the Astroworld crowd crush, which took place in November 2021, as fans flowed toward the stage to see the rapper perform. The concert was declared a mass casualty event at 9:38 p.m., but the concert continued until 10:15 p.m.
Officials previously announced all 10 people — the youngest of whom was 9 years old — died of compression asphyxia due to pressures from the surrounding crowd. An estimated 50,000 people were at the festival, which is below the maximum capacity of 200,000 under Houston fire code.
In addition to headlining the festival, Scott was one of Astroworld’s promoters, along with Live Nation and ScoreMore. All three still face numerous civil lawsuits accusing them of negligence, wrongful death and more.
Eight people died and 25 were hospitalized after crowds surged at the Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston on Friday.
“Our job is to determine if this tragedy — this absolute disastrous, horrific event — involved criminal activity by anyone,” Harris County Dist. Atty. Kim Ogg said Thursday during a press conference. “When we have incidents like this happen, and we aren’t clear whether a crime occurred or not ... it’s our practice to take these cases before grand juries.”
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner added that his office will release a report of its investigative findings to the public.
“It was a very complex investigation, with a lot of moving parts,” Finner said. “I spoke to the mayor, and said, ‘We have to put this one out.’ It’s unprecedented. It’s almost 1,200 pages ... it’s important. And especially for the families, who have been waiting a year and seven months. That’s who my heart goes out to.”
The on-site investigator at the deadly 1979 Who concert said that festival seating and crowd density may have contributed to the Astroworld tragedy.
“My client Travis Scott will not be charged with criminal charges or any wrongdoing for his involvement with AstroWorld festival,” a representative for Scott told The Times in a statement. “Today’s decision by the Harris County District Attorney confirms what we have known all along — that Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy ... While waiting patiently for the District Attorney’s decision to not file charges, Travis Scott has been inaccurately and wrongly singled out, despite stopping the show three separate times and being unaware of the events as they were unfolding. Now that this chapter is closed, we hope for the government efforts to focus on what is most important — stopping future heartbreaking tragedies like AstroWorld from ever occurring again.”
A spokesperson for Kherker Garcia, a Houston-based firm that represents hundreds of Astroworld attendees in civil lawsuits, told The Times: “While we are incredibly disappointed that Mr. Travis Scott will not be indicted on charges stemming from the senseless tragedies and chaos that occurred at Astroworld, we are undeterred and will continue fighting every day on behalf of the hundreds of injury victims — who simply intended to attend a concert for a night of fun — to ensure responsible parties are held accountable in the ongoing pursuit of justice.”
In March, Scott performed at the Rolling Loud festival at Inglewood’s Hollywood Park. It marked his first festival appearance since Astroworld.
“He seemed gratified to reclaim his role as king of the pit, even if he stopped short of exhorting the crowd toward the kind of wild behavior he used to demand,” wrote The Times’ Mikael Wood of Scott’s set. “Short as it was, the performance was effective in that it demonstrated the state of a valuable brand unchanged by controversy.”
Scott has been teasing his upcoming “Utopia” album, recently installing mysterious promotional billboards around Los Angeles.
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