At least two concertgoers who witnessed the horrific, fatal crowd crush during Travis Scott’s set at Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas, claim that they were ignored by staff when they asked to “stop the show” because people were being “trampled to death” in the crowd.
During Scott’s set, at least eight people died and several were injured in what authorities are calling a “mass casualty event”. Seanna Faith, an attendee who was standing near the walkway in the middle, claims she was thrown further into the “sinkhole of people” in the front of the stage from the beginning of his performance, and then witnessed people being trampled to death.
“I saw terror in every eye that I met, even the ones that told me to breathe calm,” she said in a long Instagram post.
“We knew there was a very big chance some of us would not make it out alive.
“..There were people below the ones I could see from above. There was a floor of bodies, of men and women, below two layers of fallen people above them. I began to shriek.”
Another attendee claimed on Twitter that “when the timer hit 10 minutes before the concert started, people started pushing so hard that I could not move my arms, and my chest was being squished to the point where I could not breathe”.
“…About 30 seconds before the concert started, a girl next to me was trying to back too. She was crying and screaming her vocal cords out to people to get out of the way, but the concert started and no one would listen.”
Seanna and several others claim that they tried to scream for help but “no one listened”. Eventually, she made her way out of the crowd and towards the back where people were allegedly oblivious to what was happening at the front of the stage.
The woman on Twitter also commented on this disparity, writing: “I could not believe the concert was still going on after seeing multiple people injured. I could not believe the indifference of some people as there were dead people a few feet away from them.”
Seanna, along with a young man named Ayden Cruz, then climbed a ladder to reach a cameraman who was filming the event on a platform nearby. According to footage online, they asked him to “stop the show” because “there is someone dead” in the crowd. The man behind the camera then appeared to dismiss them and gestured to them to get off the block.
https://twitter.com/honest_papi/status/1457007126442909705
everyone was yelling to stop and you still continued with the show how can you explain this bro pic.twitter.com/2UQRPZt144
— Sergen 𖣘 (@s9rgen) November 6, 2021
I screamed for help so many times, alerted security, asked everyone in the crowd if there was anyone who was CPR certified. Every call went unanswered. I was told, “we already know, and we can’t do anything to stop the show, they’re streaming live” Disgusting. #ASTROWORLDFest
— Cody Hartt (@CodyHartt) November 6, 2021
“I saw the cameraman, eyes glued to the stage, elevated on a platform,” Seanna said.
“A platform that looked directly into the crowd. I climbed the ladder and pointed to the hole, telling him people were dying.
She then claimed: “He told me to get off the platform and continued filming. I screamed over and over again. He wouldn’t even look in the direction, so I pushed the camera so it pointed toward where I had just come from. He became angry.”
The man then allegedly “called someone else up” who grabbed Seanna by the arm and allegedly told her he would “push [her] off the 15 foot platform with no sides if [she] didn’t get down”.
As this happened, the crowd nearby then allegdly “began to boo at [her and Ayden]”. In an Instagram story post after the event, Cruz seemingly claimed the same, saying that people were mocking him for “car[ing[ more about helping people, whose lives are in danger, over a concert,”. He also said that by the time he and Seanna had climbed the platform, “it wasn’t too late [to] stop the show”.
After this altercation, Seanna went down the ladder and called 911 before two medical staff arrived. According to a comment on a Reddit post on the Travis Scott subreddit by an alleged “trained medic” who attended the concert, the pair of health crew “were like deer in headlights”.
“One of them straight up left”,” they alleged, while the other was “screaming if anyone else knew CPR”.
“The two that came over had no ambu[lance] bag, no gloves, no AED, nothing.”
How could the people at #AstroWorld let this happen!?!#ASTROFEST pic.twitter.com/vvG7LrBacD
— claid (@claid_dragon) November 6, 2021
While this altercation was happening, Travis Scott, assumedly unaware of this all occurring, could be heard in the footage asking the crowd, “who asked me to stop?”
“Two hands up,” he said before resuming the music. “Y’all know what you came to do [sic] so let’s go.”
A clip circulating online shows Scott continuing to perform as an unconscious man is carried out of the crowd.
Another #disturbing video- Travis Scott continues to sing as he watched a unconscious fan at #ASTROFEST #AstroWorld2021 #Festival– At least 11 killed and 300+ injured.
#panic #injuries #Houston #ASTROWORLDFest #TravisScott #AstroWorld #Houston #KHOU11 pic.twitter.com/ZGH7zhCApi
— Chaudhary Sahab (@ChParvezAhmed) November 6, 2021
Earlier today, the rapper said in a statement he was “absolutely devastated” by what happened in his first official statement since the incident. His partner, Kylie Jenner, has been slammed for posting a tactless photo from the event on her Instagram story that clearly features an ambulance. Prior to the event, chilling footage showed concertgoers “stampeding” into the stadium.
You can read Seanna’s full statement below.
