Arizona State University student barely escaped crowd at deadly AstroWorld festival

By Emma Lockhart

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    PHOENIX, Arizona (KTVK, KPHO) — An Arizona State student is giving a firsthand account of the chaos at the deadly AstroWorld Festival in Houston Friday night. Eight people were killed as a crowd of 50,000 people pushed toward the stage. Nineteen-year-old Bianca Strauss narrowly escaped. “Instant fear, instant like, oh my God, this is how I am going to die,” said Strauss.

Over the weekend eight people were killed and many more injured during rapper Travis Scott’s Houston music festival, Astroworld.

Strauss flew to see one of her favorite artists, rapper Travis Scott. But when he took the stage, the crowd surge took over. Strauss says she started to suffocate. “That fear I had, gasping for every breath I could, standing on my tippy toes, to try and get my head up, to get some breath. It was way too much,” said Strauss.

Strauss said a man next to her stepped in and carried her out of the crowd. She says it took 45 minutes to escape. During that time, she recalls absolute chaos: people screaming, passing out and getting trampled. “Everyone was in distress. All you could hear was shrieks and screams, screaming for help, screaming to stop, screaming for anything to help them,” said Strauss.

Now, many, including Strauss, are demanding answers. Before the show, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said he met with the rap star and expressed security concerns. Investigators are now looking into whether the festival could have been stopped sooner. A lawsuit has been filed against Scott and Live Nation, the company that organized the event, claiming they put profits over the safety of the crowd.

Live Nation released a statement about the festival, saying they are “heartbroken for those lost and impacted at Astroworld. We will continue working to provide as much information and assistance as possible to the local authorities as they investigate the situation.” Scott is partnering with BetterHelp and other organizations to offer free therapy to people impacted by the tragedy.

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