-
Footage seems to show police officers near the Astroworld stage during the deadly crowd surge.
-
The Houston Police Department declined to comment specifically on the video.
-
A police representative told Insider all footage “will be looked at as part of the investigation.”
Photos and videos from the rapper Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival in Houston, where at least eight people died in a crowd surge, appear to show members of the Houston Police Department near the stage more than 15 minutes after the festival had already been declared a “mass-casualty event.” Some can be seen walking, while others appear to be pointing their phones at the stage.
A source close to Astroworld sent Insider a 30-second video and a photo from the night.
In a lawsuit filed this week, five people who say they were hurt at the festival accused Scott of negligence, saying he continued to perform “for 37 minutes after Houston police and firefighters were called to a ‘mass casualty event.'”
It’s unclear how much Scott knew about what was happening in the crowd while he was onstage. Kylie Jenner, who is pregnant with her second child with Scott, said on Sunday that she and Scott were not aware of any fatalities until after his performance.
Unnamed sources have told some news outlets that Scott wasn’t told about the severity of the situation until he was at Dave & Buster’s for a previously scheduled after-party. Sources told NBC News he left the party immediately after being told what happened.
John Cannon, a public-information officer at the Houston Police Department, declined to comment on the video. But he told Insider that any videos of the festival that appeared on social media “will be looked at as part of the investigation.”
On Wednesday, Chief Troy Finner of the Houston Police Department said the investigation into what happened could “take weeks, possibly months.” Finner also said it was the concert promoters, not the police department, that had the discretion to shut down the performance. In a follow-up statement, the department said “HPD personnel told personnel in charge of the event to shut down the performance” after CPR was underway for at least one person.
In addition to the eight deaths reported during a crowd surge at the event, hundreds more were injured.
In a statement provided to Insider, Scott’s attorney said there had been “finger-pointing” and “inconsistent messages” from officials regarding the tragedy.
“Investigations should start proceeding over finger-pointing so that together, we can identify exactly what transpired and how we can prevent anything like this from happening again,” the attorney Edwin F. McPherson said.
Have a news tip? Email this reporter: cdavis@insider.com
Read the original article on Insider
