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Astroworld Festival: Funeral services underway for victims as dozens of lawsuits are filed over the tragedy


Brianna Rodriguez is among the nine people who died at Travis Scott’s music competition when folks obtained crushed, trampled and struggled to breathe when a crowd surge was unleashed, turning the sold-out venue into a criminal offense scene inside minutes.

Rodriguez was a 16-year-old junior at Houston Heights Excessive College, in accordance with her household. Her funeral service can be Saturday at La Paz Memorial Funeral House in Houston.

“Dancing was her ardour and now she’s dancing her approach to heaven’s pearly gates,” in accordance with a verified GoFundMe account created by her household.

Concertgoers have described the crowd surge to be as terrifying as a “demise entice,” many pondering they’d not make it out alive. The attendees started to push towards the stage as Scott got here on, they mentioned.

“This was not a live performance; this was a battle for survival,” attendee Jeffrey Schmidt advised CNN.

Authorities haven’t launched the causes of demise for the victims and mentioned that might take weeks. Within the meantime, the investigation into how the lethal crowd surge unfolded stays underway.

A vigil is held to honor Brianna Rodriguez
With about 50,000 folks attending, the occasion’s security measures have come underneath scrutiny. A slew of lawsuits have been filed towards Scott, the competition organizer and others concerned by the households of the victims and the survivors.

On Friday, Legal professional Ben Crump, together with a coalition of Houston attorneys, introduced they symbolize greater than 200 victims who attended the competition and have filed greater than 90 lawsuits in Harris County Civil Courtroom towards promoter Reside Nation and others concerned within the deadly occasion.

“A few of these victims have been catastrophically injured,” mentioned Crump, asking for continued prayers for his 9-year-old shopper EB, who stays in a coma.

Houston officers have pointed to the artist and others concerned within the occasion as accountable for the chaos that unfolded that evening.

Scott has mentioned he was not conscious of what was taking place within the crowd throughout his set — disputing metropolis officers’ account of his duty within the tragic occasions.

New particulars emerge

Though a number of accounts say the worst of the gang surge occurred round 9 p.m. CT, there have been purple flags a lot earlier within the day.

Shortly after the 9 a.m. begin of the competition on November 5, spectators had already breached the primary gate, in accordance with the handwritten logs obtained by CNN on Friday.

A minimum of eight extra breaches could be reported all through the day, with 3,000 to five,000 concertgoers that have been “not scanned” getting into the venue by 5:05 p.m., the logs present.

Deadly Astroworld Festival spiraled out of control for hours, Houston FD logs show

The logs exhibit that a number of attendees have been injured and dropped at the hospital within the morning and afternoon. And shortly earlier than 5 p.m., the Houston Police Division reported “harmful crowd circumstances” at one stage.

Eight minutes earlier than Scott took the stage at 9 p.m., greater than 260 folks had already been handled, in accordance with the logs, which didn’t specify the kind of remedy. And a 9:18 p.m. entry famous a “crush harm.”

Lower than half an hour into Scott’s efficiency, the log states: “That is when all of it obtained actual.”

“A number of folks trampled, handed out at entrance of stage” at 9:33 p.m, police reported. Shortly after, a police operator reported 5 911 calls about “unconscious individuals in crowd. Report of doable CPR.”

A mass casualty incident was reported at 9:52 p.m., the logs present. From 10 p.m. to about 11:40 p.m., 17 folks had been despatched to hospitals, together with a minimum of six folks in cardiac arrest.

Funeral providers deliberate for the victims

Scott has mentioned he was devastated by the tragedy, including that he will cover all funeral costs for the victims in addition to assist fund psychological well being assist for these affected.

A minimum of two funerals have been held already, and extra are scheduled over the subsequent week, in accordance with members of the family and notices posted by varied funeral properties.

The funeral for Danish Baig, 27, who died making an attempt to save lots of his fiancée, was held November 7 in Colleyville, Texas, his brother, Basil Baig, told CNN.

One other brother, Mirza Ammar Baig, mentioned that Danish had deliberate to purchase a home for his or her dad and mom by the tip of the month.

After Astroworld, music festivals face new scrutiny over crowd safety

“It is insufferable. It is unspeakable,” he mentioned of his brother’s demise. “I am the older brother, however he was the older brother to me. He led this household in a path that I could not have accomplished in another manner. … To get up and never be capable to hear his voice, to the touch him, to kiss him, to inform him how a lot we love him, it is not going to occur anymore. And the best way he left this world, it is not simply.”

On Friday, the funeral for Rodolfo Peña, a 23-year-old who finding out at Laredo School, was held Friday in Laredo, according to the funeral home.
“Though Rudy had many optimistic attributes, the one attribute that stands out above all the remainder was his contagious, warming, honest smile,” his obituary reads.

CNN’s Keith Allen, Melissa Alonso, Ray Sanchez, Rosa Flores and Ed Lavandera contributed to this report.



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