Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said he had a meeting with Travis Scott to express his public safety concerns to him ahead of the rapper’s sold-out show on Friday, which ended in eight people being killed in a crowd surge.
The meeting was “brief and respectful,” Finner said in a statement on Twitter, adding that the head of security of the Astroworld Festival, which Scott founded in 2018, was also present.
“I expressed my concerns regarding public safety and that in my 31 years of law enforcement experience I have never seen a time with more challenges facing citizens of all ages, to include a global pandemic and social tension throughout the nation,” the police chief wrote.
Finner said he asked the rapper and his team to “work with HPD for all events over the weekend and to be mindful of his team’s social media messaging on any unscheduled events.”
Also on rt.com ‘Profits over people’: Travis Scott & Drake accused of incitement in Astroworld Festival tragedy lawsuitHowever, he did not elaborate on the exact nature of the safety concerns he had before the ill-fated event. The HPD have launched a criminal investigation into what went wrong at the festival.
The tragedy unfolded during Scott’s performance at Houston’s NRG Park on Friday as people rushed towards the stage to see the star with their own eyes. It resulted in many people being pushed so hard that they couldn’t breathe. The stampede caused eight fatalities, and several hundred were injured.
Scott, who now faces multiple lawsuits from concert-goers over insufficient security at the event, has promised to cover the funeral expenses of the victims on Monday.
The representatives of the Grammy-nominated musician said it was “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.”
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