Footage Appears To Show Police Videoing Travis Scott On Stage After Astroworld Was Declared A Mass-Casualty
All while people were dying.
Christian Bertrand / Shutterstock Videos taken during Travis Scot’s Astroworld performance appear to show police with their phones out, pointed towards the stage while members of the audience are being injured behind them.
At least 8 people were killed during the concert and many more are injured or fighting for their lives.
Police appear to have filmed Travis Scott instead of responding to casualties.
In the video, members of the Houston Police Department are standing near the stage more than 15 minutes after the event had been officially declared a mass-casualty.
Lawsuits filed this week say Scott continued performing for 37-minutes after police and firefighters had been called to the scene.
The performer even welcomed rapper Drake to the stage in the midst of the deadly crowd crush.
It is during Drake’s performance that the footage of the police was taken.
The police’s involvement at Astroworld has been criticized.
While it is not known whether these particular officers knew the extent of the fatalities, the footage may be relevant to the ongoing investigation into the organisational failures that led to the tragedy.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner has faced enormous scrutiny for his department’s response to the tragedy.
Finner has stated that the responsibility to end the show lay with Live Nation, the event organizer.
“When you say authority and ability to end a show, we don’t hold the plug,” he claimed in a press briefing.
“But it’s always in the plan…we had those discussions with the production staff. The ultimate authority to end a show is with production…and the entertainer.”
However, this does not explain why police officers standing in the midst of the crisis would be on their phones or pacing in front of a crowd.
It is unclear when Travis Scott knew about the fatalities.
Scott has also been criticized with many saying he should have stopped his performance sooner or accusing him of knowing about the deaths during this performance.
In a statement, his partner, Kylie Jenner, claimed the pair were not aware of the extent of the tragedy until after the performance.
Reports have said Scott and Drake both attended an Astroworld afterparty at Dave & Busters directly after the fatal concert.
Again, it has been claimed that Scott was unaware of the deaths until he was already at the party and he allegedly left the event immediately after hearing the news.
John Cannon, a public-information officer at the Houston Police Department, declined to comment on the video. But he told Insider that any videos of the festival that appeared on social media "will be looked at as part of the investigation."
The investigation into the mass-casualty event is expected to take weeks but Scott and Live Nation are already facing numerous lawsuits.
Alice Kelly is a senior news and entertainment editor for YourTango. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, her work covers all things social justice, pop culture, and human interest. Keep up with her Twitter for more.