The death toll from Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival has risen to 10 after a nine-year-old boy died in hospital from injuries he received at the event.
Per the CNN, the latest person to die from injuries sustained at the festival tragedy was nine-year-old Ezra Blount.
Bernon Blount, Ezra’s grandfather, said the boy and his father Treston Blount were in Houston to see “his favorite artist”.
“When my son went to the concert, he had my grandson on his shoulder,” Blount said.
“All the people pushed in and he could not breathe so he ended up passing out because of all the pressure that was being applied to his body. And when he passed out, Ezra fell off his shoulder and fell into the crowd.”
Ezra was taken to Texas Children’s Hospital as a John Doe before his father came to, and Blount said he had damage to his heart, liver and lungs, and swelling to his brain.
Blount previously said the event “was supposed to be a father-son outing for them to bond” but that it “turned into something horrible and tragic”.
“The Blount family tonight is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son. This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra’s death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But tonight we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer,” a statement from family attorney Ben Crump said.
I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening. Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time. They will need all of our support in the months and years to come. May God give them strength. RIP Ezra. st #AstroWorld pic.twitter.com/Ankq7FMa3l
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) November 15, 2021
Ezra’s death comes days after Barthi Shahani died in hospital, also from Astroworld injuries. She was a computer science student at Texas A&M University. She went to the event with her sister and cousin who survived and said the barricades used essentially trapped punters and stopped them from being able to escape.
“If they hadn’t packed us in with barriers on all three sides, maybe this wouldn’t have happened,” Shahani’s cousin Mohit Bellani said.
Shahani’s family lawyer James Lassiter spoke at a news conference last week and said they want to make sure the right people are held accountable to the deaths of the attendees, all of whom are aged between 14 and 27 at the time of writing.
“We want to make sure that the people who decided to put profits over the safety of the lives of children are held responsible,” he said.
Earlier, CNN reported that Scott will cover the funeral costs of the eight people who died at the festival, which was confirmed in a statement issued by a representative for the rapper. It’s unclear whether this extends to Shahani and any further deaths due to injuries sustained at Astroworld.
“Travis remains in active conversations with the city of Houston, law enforcement and local first responders to respectfully and appropriately connect with the individuals and families of those involved,” the statement read.
“These are the first of many steps Travis plans on taking as a part of his personal vow to assist those affected throughout their grieving and recovery process.”
The statement also said that he is working with counselling company BetterHealth to provide mental health services to anyone who has been affected by the traumatic event.
Houston police have also set the record straight on the claim that a security guard was needle-spiked while working on the crowd. The allegation led police to initially look into the potential a drug-spiking incident had occurred in the chaos of Scott’s performance.
It was reported that guard was immediately treated with anti-narcotics medication Narcan in fears he had been injected with an unknown substance.
Per the BBC, police chief Troy Finner said the guard had been interviewed by police. The guard told them that he had been hit in head and was knocked out cold and eventually woke up in the medical tent.
