A Texas grand jury has declined to press criminal charges against rapper Travis Scott for the 2021 Astroworld tragedy.
At least ten people died in the crowd crush event at a venue that was later found to be understaffed. Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said the grand jury verdict follows 19 months of investigation into the tragedy. “Our investigators and prosecutors gave it everything they had to ensure that the grand jury could reach the truth,” Ogg told Reuters.
Following the tragedy, a wave of litigation against Travis Scott and Live Nation. Those lawsuits alleged that the venue operator let too many people in despite knowing the risks because they wanted the concert to appear packed.
Ten people died and more than 4,900 people were injured in the crowd crush event. The string of lawsuits were consolidated in Texas state court. At least one family opted to settle with Travis Scott and Live Nation in October 2022—terms were not disclosed.
“Nothing Travis did or failed to do fits within the Texas criminal code,” attorney Kent Schaffer said about the verdict. “The grand jury found that no crime did occur, that no single individual was responsible,” adds District Attorney Ogg.
Houston Police Department (HPD) Detective Mike Barrow said they examined the crowd during Scott’s performance and determined the area where the ten deaths occurred. They were in a specific section of the venue, known as ‘Quadrant 3’ by investigators. Footage from this section of the concert showed dangerous crowd compaction hours prior to Travis Scott taking the stage.
The compaction in Quadrant 3 was made worse when a separate show ended before Scott’s performance. Many more people joined the already compacted crowd, funneling more bodies closer together. The timeline displayed by the HPD shows that Scott’s concert began at 9:02 pm. Five minutes later, the department received the first 911 call referencing distress from a crowd member. Thirty minutes later, HPD received multiple reports about injuries and people began climbing onto the camera platforms to stop the show.
