“You have cops trying to stop them, but I mean, there’s about 50 people that just break the fence down (and) immediately start running.”
“When you start off poorly, I don’t get how you would expect to finish with success,” said Jonathan. The event “unraveled in chaos” from the moment he and his brother arrived, he said.
During a Saturday press briefing, Houston Fire Chief Sam Peña said the entrances and exits to the concert were not a problem. Getting “in and out of that venue, that was not an issue,” said Peña.
Jonathan’s brother, Bryan, said he’s had trouble sleeping since Friday’s tragic events unfolded.
“I saw people screaming in front of my face, just trying to fight for their lives, basically. Everyone’s life was in danger and I just saw people passed out, bodies on the floor, just a lot of stuff you don’t see on a daily basis,” said Bryan.
“At one point I thought I wasn’t going to make it.”
Attorney Rick Ramos, who represents the brothers and several other festival attendees, said he is filing a class action lawsuit against festival organizer and headliner Travis Scott.
“Mr. Scott, dictated the pace of the concert to the crowd,” said Ramos.
At least 58 lawsuits filed over Astroworld tragedy
As investigators and attendees seek to know more about what caused the deadly crowd crush, a bevy of lawsuits are being filed in civil court on behalf of those at the show.
people were dying in the melee.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Wednesday that the “ultimate authority to end a show (was) with production and the entertainer, and that should be through communication with public safety officials.”
“We don’t hold the plug,” he said.
began to receive word of injuries in the crowd around 9:30 p.m. and the show continued for another 40 minutes.
police personnel told the production team in charge of the performance that CPR was underway on at least one individual and to stop the show. Finner did not specify who the production team is or the timing of the notifications.
Questions have also been raised regarding the actions of Live Nation, the show’s promoter and organizer, as well as Scott, who has maintained he did not know what was happening in the crowd during his set.
“If the lights would have been turned on — (if) the promoter or the artist called for that — it would have chilled the crowd, and who knows? Who knows what the outcome would have been? But everybody in that venue, starting from the artist on down, has a responsibility for public safety,” Fire Chief Peña told CNN on Monday.
Yet representatives of Scott are disputing characterizations made by city officials of his responsibility in the surge.
Edwin F. McPherson, an attorney for Scott, released a statement Wednesday blasting Houston city officials over the “finger-pointing,” “inconsistent messages,” and backtracking of statements.
obtained by CNN this week, a clear chain of command in case of an incident is laid out, identifying the role of the executive producer as well as the festival director as the only individuals with the authority to stop the concert. The PDF obtained by CNN is marked Version: 0.1, and it is unclear whether it was the final version of the plan and when it was drafted.
“It was reported that the Operations Plan designated that only the festival director and executive producers have authority to stop the show, neither of which is part of Travis’s crew,” McPherson said in the statement.
McPherson also noted Finner’s comments on Saturday that authorities had concerns over the show stopping early due to potential rioting from concertgoers.
Former Baltimore Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake, who was introduced to Scott by a mutual friend, told CNN’s Erin Burnett that Scott is “absolutely devastated” at what happened at the festival.
“His heart is bleeding for his fans,” she said.
Speaking from Houston, Rawlings-Blake said that she spent over four hours with Scott on Wednesday and is working with him to ensure that they are speaking with city administration and the promoters.
“We’re doing everything that he can do in his power to make sure that no fan ever loses their life at another concert,” she said.
“He is angry. He is upset that this happened,” she said, adding, “I think the finger-pointing is just — It is unproductive. He at his heart wants to reach out to the families. He also wants to reach out to make sure that something like this never happens again.”
Investigation will ‘take weeks, possibly months’
Finner said at Wednesday’s news conference that it was too early to say for sure that charges would be filed over the disaster, but said investigators were “not going to leave any stones unturned.”
investigation into the crowd crush will “take weeks, possibly months,” he said.
The chief clarified earlier reports and said there was no evidence a security guard at the festival had received a drug-laced injection, but rather was struck in the head and knocked unconscious.
And despite Finner saying Wednesday that an independent investigation is unwarranted, Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo may direct a potential third party to do so.
“What happened at Astroworld this weekend was a horrific tragedy, and the families of victims deserve answers. There may well be criminal liability, and that is why we continue to fully support the Houston Police Department’s criminal investigation,” said Rafael Lemaitre, communications director for Hidalgo.
“At the same time, Harris County continues its process of identifying a separate independent, third party to look into any operational or administrative steps — beyond anything criminal — that could have been taken to prevent this from happening.”
Two remain in critical condition
treated on-scene following Friday’s crowd surge, at least two who were transported to a hospital remain in critical condition Wednesday, Peña told CNN.
Twenty-two-year-old Bharti Shahani attended the concert with her cousin and her younger sister, according to cousin Mohit Bellani. After suffering several injuries, Shahani is on a ventilator in critical condition, family attorney James Lassiter said in a statement.
Shahani is a student at Texas A&M University studying electronic systems engineering technology, a university spokesperson confirmed to CNN.
seriously injured at the festival, his family said, and is in a medically induced coma.
Survivors of the surge describe scenes where many attendees were pressed together and at times unable to stay upright.
CNN’s Melissa Alonso, Amand Watts, Josh Campbell, Rosa Flores, Ray Sanchez, Dave Alsup, Raja Razek, Anna-Maja Rappard, Steve Almasy, Allison Flexner, Claudia Dominguez and Caroll Alvarado contributed to this report.