BEAUMONT, Texas — Emotions are ranging from heartbreak to outrage after eight people were killed in what some are calling an “entirely preventable” crowd surge at a Travis Scott concert.
The youngest to lose their life was a 14-year-old freshman who attended Memorial High School in Houston. Multiple lawsuits have already been filed against Travis Scott and organizers of the Astroworld Festival.
“There was not enough medical personnel, security personnel, and there were more people there than should've been there,” Tony Buzzbee, attorney representing the family of a 21-year-old killed during the surge, said. “The way the concert was set up, planned, organized and the way things were handled once there was a problem, it boggles the mind.”
Attorneys are calling the night a recipe for disaster. While an official cause of death has yet to be determined, attorneys are claiming that some victims died as a result of a phenomenon known as, "crowd rush.”
Those who find themselves caught inside a crowd rush may not have time to react. However, a Southeast Texas doctor said there are actions people can take to protect themselves if they are ever caught in a crowd surge.
“Being on your side, your not horizontal and probably can breathe a little bit better on your side,” Msonthi Levine, Beaumont doctor, said.
The large amount of people in one area likely made it difficult for people to help others and tend to them, Levine said.
“This was not a normal circumstance,” Levine said. “Too much chaos. Too dark. Too loud. Too much music and it interfered, in my opinion, with the average person being able to actually get in there and actually help out that person.”
Levine believes crowd configuration may also have hampered with people’s ability to protect themselves and others.
“People really couldn't even make natural movements to protect themselves just because people in the way,” Levine said. “They were getting stepped on.”
Experts agreed with Levine saying that Astroworld’s standing-only setup may have been a key factor in why the night took a fatal turn. They said the crowd was allowed to get too dense and was not managed properly.
“It forces people in the crowd to work against each other,” Paul Wertheimer, founder of Crowd Management Strategies, said. “This is the worst thing that can happen in crowd safety."
Wertheimer believes all of these factors should be considered as the incident remains under investigation, and that if Scott and organizers are not held criminally responsible, these problems could continue in the future.