A week out from Houston’s Astroworld Festival, the death toll has climbed to ten. Ezra Blount died from his injuries on Sunday, and at 9 years old, he is the youngest of the victims so far.
Ezra had been in a medically induced coma since the festival, where — according to a GoFundMe page his father, Treston Blount, set up to help cover his medical bills — he was trampled during an out-of-control crowd surge. Treston says Ezra was sitting on his shoulders while they waited for Drake to join Travis Scott onstage, when he “began to be crushed until [he] couldn’t breathe.” Treston says he passed out, and when he came to, he couldn’t find his son. Ezra had already been taken to the hospital with severe injuries: swelling in his brain and “trauma to nearly all organs,” per the GoFundMe.
Before the concert, Treston told KTRK, Ezra “was so stoked. He was ready to go.” The pair purposefully stayed toward the back of the audience, “way in the back,” Treston said, “’cause the front can get a little wild.” Blount’s family is now among those suing Scott, along with the promoter, Live Nation, and other parties involved in producing the show for “grossly negligent conduct.” And though Scott has often encouraged a rowdy crowd, a number of factors likely contributed to the event’s collapse: Houston’s fire chief noted last week that barriers set up to prevent a surge may have instead created “pinch points,” while concerns about crowd-control measures and adequate security have also surfaced. Investigations into the disaster are ongoing.
Hundreds of people sustained injuries at Astroworld, and some remain in the hospital. Including Ezra, those who died range in age from 9 to 27: John Hilgert, a 14-year-old high-school student; Brianna Rodriguez, a 16-year-old student and dancer; Axel Acosta, 20, a college student who died days before his 21st birthday; Franco Patino, 21, and Jacob Jurinek, 20, two best friends who attended the concert together; Bharti Shahani, 22, a college senior, who died from her injuries on November 10; Rodolfo Peña, 23, a college student studying criminology; Madison Dubiski, 23, a recent college graduate; and Danish Baig, 27, who saved his fiancée from the crowd.
