The city of Houston has officially revealed the names of all eight people who were killed at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival on Friday night.
Over the weekend, Mirza Baig, Rodolfo Pena, Madison Dubiski, Franco Patino, Jacob Jurinke, John Hilgert, Axel Acosta Avila and Brianna Rodriguez were honored during memorials and vigils outside of Houston’s NRG Park, the site of the festival. The eight concertgoers, who ranged in ages from 14 to 27, died as part of the “mass casualty” incident when the estimated crowd of 50,000 people began to compress toward the front of the stage and panic and chaos ensued as a result, also leaving 300 individuals injured.
Houston Fire Department Chief Samuel Peña confirmed the casualties during a press conference late Friday, calling it “a tragic night” for the city. The following day, Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner hosted another press conference confirming there were eight fatalities. On Monday (Nov. 8), city officials released the names of each victim and asked its citizens and beyond to “join us in lifting their families in prayer.” “The City of Houston extends heartfelt condolences to the families affected by Friday’s #ASTROWORLDFest tragedy. These lives were taken far too soon,” read the message from the city of Houston’s official Twitter account.
The Houston-based rapper Scott, Live Nation and other festival organizers have been hit with at least 14 lawsuits so far as a result, including one from an injured concertgoer who described Astroworld as a “predictable and preventable tragedy” and accused the “Sicko Mode” MC of having “actively encouraged and fomented dangerous behaviors.”
Scott has since released written and video statements, first penning a note via Twitter on Saturday morning that began with, “I am absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival.” Later that day, the 30-year-old rapper addressed his 43.8 million Instagram followers in a video, saying, “I just want to send out prayers to the ones that was lost last night. We’re actually working right now to identify the families so we can help assist them through this tough time.”
