Mobile, AL resident recalls scary moments during Astroworld Festival
By ARIEL MALLORY
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HOUSTON (WALA) — A criminal investigation is underway in Houston, after eight people were killed during a crowd surge at the Astroworld Festival.
Some 50,000 plus attendees packed tightly Friday night at NRG Park as headliner Travis Scott took the stage.
According to police, more than 300 people had to be treated at a field hospital, at the concert, after being crushed and trampled over.
Mobile resident Garrett Hamilton attended the concert and witnessed those scary moments firsthand.
Hamilton, who was up close and personal to the stage, says he could’ve easily gotten hurt.
“That’s not suppose to happen. You’re not suppose to go to a concert and not come home, you’re suppose to have fun,” Hamilton said. “It’s a weird feeling cause like I could’ve been you know one of those people.”
Hamilton says he didn’t know about any of the fatalities until hours later when he got back to his hotel room with a swarm of texts asking if he was okay.
“I started walking back to my car people were texting me like you know two people died, three people died, and then it kept growing,” Hamilton said. “And they confirmed it was eight people dead and like 300 people injured. I was like wow that’s crazy.”
This isn’t the first Astroworld Festival that Hamilton has attended.
He says it’s actually a common atmosphere for the rapper’s events to get out of control.
“The concerts were crazy but that’s kind of like the expectation, is kind of what he strives for,” Hamilton explained. “He calls his fans ‘ragers’ like he wants them to go crazy.”
Before heading back home Hamilton stopped at one of the vigils outside NRG Park in Houston dedicated to the victims.
Now, he’s unsure if he’ll be heading to the next Astroworld unless changes are made.
“I’m worried about like, they need to do better with security because security wasn’t that good,” Hamilton said. “There’s got to be changes cause you can’t have something like that and then just continue the same type of concerts with no changes at all.”
Travis Scott has pledged to cover funeral costs for all eight victims.
There are currently more than a dozen lawsuits filed against Scott and festival organizers.
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