NORTH TEXAS (CBSDFW.COM) – A criminal investigation is underway and dozens of new lawsuits have been filed after a new documentary about the deadly AstroWorld Festival makes startling claims about the security failures among the City of Houston and concert promoters.
The documentary ‘Concert Crush’ takes a closer look at the tragic night of November 5, 2021 when a crowd surge at the music festival left people trapped inside barricades and slowly suffocating. In all 10 people lost their lives, some died at the scene while other perished at hospitals days later. The youngest victim, 9-year-old Ezra Blount, was from Dallas. The others who died ranged in age from 14 to 27.
The film, that includes interviews with eight survivors — including two from North Texans, shows the mayhem before the tragedy that also left 300 others injured. The victims from the Metroplex said they could have easily been among those crushed to death.
Ingrid Espinosa, from Carrollton, spoke for the first time and said she owes her life to her brother Edson, who pulled her to safety. “Like, I couldn’t feel anything in my chest,” recalled Ingrid. “My brother he tried pushing me up.”
When interviewed Edson said he didn’t think he would make it out alive. “I got pushed on the floor, on my knees, and I kind of like closed my eyes ’cause I thought it was my time to just go.”
Edson was willing to sacrifice himself to get his sister free from the mass of bodies rushing the stage.
Fighting back tears Ingrid remembered what she was feeling at that moment. “A lot of things were going through my mind because I didn’t wanna leave his side, but I know my brother wanted me to be safe,” she said.
The documentary shows the mayhem before the concert and reveals that the life threatening surge began well before rapper and headliner Travis Scott took the stage.
“This was just an utter, colossal failure, a fiasco, an atrocity, again top to bottom, side-to-side,” said director Charlie Minn. “Who was the adult in the room that day… that night? This was chaotic. It was a free-for-all, one-hundred-percent insanity.”
Minn obtained Houston Police and Fire communications that declared the concert a mass casualty event but let it continue for another 37 minutes until Scott finished his set.
The film includes audio of dispatchers on that night. One worker can be heard saying, “We’re getting multiple reports of people sprawled out unconscious in the crowd.”
Minn has some very harsh criticisms. “He’s wearing an earpiece, so the $64,000 question is what exactly did Travis Scott know? I think there should be criminal charges. When you look at the end result 10 people died… I mean that’s a lot and this is not even a mass shooting. This was preventable.”
Neither Travis Scott or Houston police responded to the claims made in the documentary.
‘Concert Crush’ premieres at the Look Cinema in Dallas on April 13.