One dead, 20 hospitalized in apparent drug overdoses at Maryland festival

A 20-year-old North Carolina man died and 20 others were hospitalized after a rash of apparent drug overdoses at an electronic music concert in Maryland on Friday night, police said.

Tyler Fox Viscardi, of Raleigh was rushed from the Mad Decent Block Party at Meriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia around 9 p.m., according to a statement released by the Howard County Police Department.

He was pronounced dead at Howard County General Hospital a short time later, police said. A 17-year-old from Virginia remained in critical condition at the same hospital on Saturday, according to the release.

Police do not believe the two men knew each other, and it was not immediately clear what kind of drugs may have been involved.

Twenty concert-goers were hospitalized during and after the event, police said.

On its website, Mad Decent released a statement expressing dismay.

“We were shocked and saddened when we heard the news from yesterday’s event,” the statement read. “Our hearts go out to everyone impacted by this. Right now, we are waiting along with everyone else for more information.”

It appeared the next scheduled event on the tour, a Saturday afternoon performance in Norfolk, Va., was still going to take place. Attempts to contact festival officials for further comment was unsuccessful.

The tour, which is scheduled to make a stop in Los Angeles in September, is a nationwide event largely featuring electronic music, DJs and hip-hop artists.

In their statement, Howard County police contended the event was linked to similar incidents earlier this year. Police also arrested three people for assault on a police officer, domestic assault and drug possession and issued 50 citations for underage drinking on Friday.

“Investigators have learned that other venues have seen similar circumstances at these events,” the police statement read. “As the summer concert season continues, police are urging concert-goers to attend shows safely and not to engage in illegal activities such as drug use and underage drinking.”

The Maryland incident is the latest apparent drug-related death to rock a summer festival this year. In June, 24-year-old Montgomery Tsang of San Leandro, Calif., died of an ecstasy overdose at the Electric Daisy Carnival in Las Vegas.

That moved to Las Vegas from Los Angeles after a 15-year-old girl died of an ecstasy overdose in 2010.

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