The FBI has offered to join a criminal investigation into the deadly events at Travis Scott’s Astroworld festival in Houston on Friday night, an agency spokeswoman confirmed to Billboard on Tuesday.
The extent to which federal authorities are involved in the ongoing probe into the deadly crowd surge, which left eight dead and dozens injured, remains unclear. Investigators from the Houston Police Department and other local authorities are currently leading the investigation.
“FBI Houston has offered our assistance and resources to the Houston Police Department and we are poised to assist,” said Brittany Garcia, a public affairs officer in FBI’s Houston office. “It is standard practice for the FBI to assist our local law enforcement partners if we have a tool, tactic, or technique that could benefit their investigations.”
A spokesman for the Houston Police Department declined to comment and spokeswoman for Mayor Sylvester Turner did not immediately return a request for comment on the status of the local investigation, or on the extent to which federal officials have become involved.
According to the Associated Press, a criminal investigation is underway to figure out what caused Friday evening’s deadly incident, which saw members of 50,000-person crowd press toward the stage when Travis Scott was performing.
The official probe is taking place alongside a flurry of private litigation, filed by victims of Friday night’s incident. At least 18 cases had been filed as of Monday, accusing Scott and organizers of Astroworld of being grossly negligent in how they planned and conducted the festival.
Experts have told Billboard that the cases could ultimately see hundreds of individual claims and hundreds of millions in potential damages or settlements.
