Photo credit: Alexander Londono
A Texas grand jury has declined to file criminal charges against rapper Travis Scott over the 2021 Astroworld tragedy.
At least ten people died in the crowds at a venue that later turned out to be understaffed. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the grand jury’s verdict was the result of a 19-month investigation into the tragedy. “Our investigators and prosecutors did everything they could to ensure the grand jury was able to uncover the truth,” Ogg said told Reuters.
A spate of lawsuits against Travis Scott and Live Nation followed the tragedy. Those lawsuits alleged that the venue operator, despite knowing the risks, let in too many people because they wanted the concert to appear crowded.
Ten people died in the crowds and more than 4,900 people were injured. The series of lawsuits was consolidated in a Texas state court. At least one family decided to settle with Travis Scott and Live Nation in October 2022 — terms weren’t disclosed.
“Nothing Travis did or failed to do fits under the Texas Penal Code,” said attorney Kent Schaffer of the verdict. “The grand jury concluded that there was no crime and that no single person was responsible,” added District Attorney Ogg.
Detective Mike Barrow of the Houston Police Department (HPD) said they surveyed the crowd during Scott’s performance and identified the area where the ten deaths occurred. They were in a specific area of the venue that investigators dubbed “Quadrant 3.” Footage from this segment of the concert showed a dangerous crowd build-up hours before Travis Scott took the stage.
The compression in quadrant 3 got even worse when a separate show ended before Scott’s performance. Many more people joined the already huddled crowd, cradling even more bodies closer together. The timeline displayed by the HPD shows that Scott’s concert began at 9:02 p.m. Five minutes later, the department received the first 911 call from a human relative. Thirty minutes later, the HPD received multiple reports of injuries and people began climbing onto the camera platforms to stop the show.