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On November 5, 2021, a fatal crowd crush occurred during the Astroworld Festival, an annual musical event hosted by American rapper Travis Scott at NRG Park in Houston, Texas. Eight people were pronounced dead on the day of the incident, and two more died in the hospital in the following days. The Harris County medical examiner’s office declared the cause of death to be compressive asphyxiation while the manner of death was ruled an accident. The 2021 edition of the festival, managed by Live Nation and live-streamed by Apple Music, was initially expected to host over 100,000 attendees. However, safety concerns led authorities to limit attendance to 50,000. The festival faced logistical challenges, including a confusing layout, inadequate facilities, and a significant crowd-to-staff ratio, which contributed to the tragic events. On the night of the event, the crowd surged during Travis Scott's performance, resulting in a human crush that caused multiple fatalities and injuries. Despite warnings and visible signs of distress in the crowd, the concert continued, leading to chaos and panic. The response from security and medical personnel was overwhelmed by the scale of the incident, highlighting significant gaps in planning and preparedness for such large-scale events. In the aftermath of the tragedy, there was widespread criticism of the event's management and the actions of Scott and other organizers. Investigations revealed that the initial event-operations plan did not adequately address potential crowd surges or mosh pit safety, despite previous incidents at Scott's concerts. The lack of coordination among security and emergency services exacerbated the situation. The Astroworld Festival incident has prompted calls for stricter regulations and better safety measures at live events. Numerous lawsuits have been filed against Scott, Live Nation, and other parties involved, with allegations of negligence and failure to ensure the safety of attendees. The incident remains a stark reminder of the importance of comprehensive planning and rapid response to emergencies. On June 29, 2023, a Texas grand jury declined to indict Scott or anyone associated with the concert. Background American rapper Travis Scott founded the annual Astroworld Festival music event in 2018, taking its name from his third studio album that was released the same year. Astroworld 2021 was organized and managed by Live Nation and its affiliates. Apple Music would live-stream Scott's performance. Logistics The 2021 festival was to be held over two consecutive nights. Tickets sold out in under an hour after going on sale in May. Over 100,000 people were expected to attend. Authorities planned to limit first-night attendees to 70,000. Later, attendee numbers were further reduced to 50,000, although city fire codes permitted up to 200,000 people. The city of Houston and Harris County organized security for the event. Mayor of Houston Sylvester Turner stated more than 1,000 security staff and police were present; the exact number of police was estimated at 530, more than double the number at 2019's Astroworld event, with only about 240 police officers. NRG Park, which is owned and managed by Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation (HCSCC), had significantly expanded its operation compared with those of prior festivals. Houston Police Department (HPD) Chief Troy Finner said on November 10 his department had no part in the writing or agreements of the original contract. NRG park staff had asked HPD to close two major thoroughfares outside the festival's site beginning November 3 to prevent stampedes; as of November 10, there was no confirmation the request was granted. Warning signs Weeks before the festival, NRG's park's General Manager Mark Miller noted repeated concerns about the "ratio of guests to staff". Live Nation subsidiary ScoreMore Shows offered to remedy this by providing more staff. Exclusivity agreements for NRG Park prevented the county from using services other than those offered by Contemporary Services Corporation (CSC). As a result, on November 4, Harris County officials signed an amendment to the contract with ScoreMore providing more staff. Showrunners Live Nation and ScoreMore contracted Seyth Boardman, co-founder of live-entertainment risk-management company B3 Risk Solutions, for Astroworld as its safety-and-risk director; Boardman was also a longtime manager at CSC, resulting in conflicts of interest on budgetary issues, staffing, and security protocol. The initial version of the event-operations plan prepared by ScoreMore contained eventualities such as deaths, traumatic injuries, severe weather, an active shooter, civil unrest, lost persons, missing children, and unruly fans. It did not contain plans for crowd surges or mosh pit safety. Additionally, prior incidents such as a gate breach at the prior Astroworld Festival and security issues at Scott's concerts were not specifically addressed. Despite reports of subsequent revisions, HCSCC said it had not obtained the revisions prior to the event. Early attendees recalled witnessing a confusing layout with inadequate signage, poor lighting, lack of adequate water stations, lack of exits, 100-foot-wide (30 m) quadrants conducive to severe and unmanageable crowd surges, and access aisles too narrow for security and medical staff; these accounts were later corroborated by experts. According to a lawsuit against Apple Music, the streamer's camera team and equipment split the premises horizontally and vertically. The lawsuit alleged the decision compromised concertgoers' means of egress and evacuation in favor of better vantage points for the cameras. Houston Police Department said it had 528 on-duty officers at the festival, including 367 for the night shift and 161 held over from the day. According to early reporting, Live Nation provided another 755 security officers. These totals were later called into question, with no secondary verification of these numbers. HPD Chief Troy Finner disputed Live Nation's totals; he described record-keeping from the subsidiaries under their purview as "not good". Paramedic cover was provided by ParaDocs Worldwide, a contractor from Brooklyn, New York, that established a main medical tent and smaller aid stations around the venue. According to early reporting, Houston Fire Department (HFD) stationed twenty ambulances outside the venue ahead of the concert. Houston Professional Fire Fighters Association (HPFFA) President Marty Lancton later disputed that total, saying none of his personnel were inside the venue because it was owned by the county and that the HPFFA had only four staff members on standby outside. Timeline Build-up At 5:00 a.m., fans began to line up at the festival's outer perimeter. At 7:00 a.m., HFD and HPD set up their command post in the Orange Lot, more than 1 mile (1.6 km) east of the festival main stage. In the planning documents, a second incident command po.... Discover the Scott Crowder popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Scott Crowder books.