"The one person who can really call for and get a tactical pause when something goes wrong is that performer," Fire Chief Samuel Peña told the New York Times on Sunday, November 7, two days after the stampede at Astroworld Music Festival that killed 8 people. The crowd went out of control during Travis Scott's performance on the opening night of the concert on Friday resulting in mayhem. Chief Peña noted that 'Scott and the organizers could have stepped in and paused the show' when things started getting out of control.
Houston Police chief Troy Finner revealed that he visited Travis Scott in his trailer to discuss crowd control before the show. According to the New York Times, Finner, who knows Scott personally was concerned about "the energy in the crowd" as he informed the rapper about the huge crowd that had amassed for the show. No further details about the police chief's conversation with the rapper were available as a spokesperson for Houston police declined to comment on the same citing an ongoing investigation.
'The person with the mic could have shut it down'
"If somebody would have said, 'Hey, shut this thing down and turn on the lights until this thing gets corrected' and that coming from the person with the mic, I think could have been very helpful," Fire Chief Peña said. According to eyewitness accounts, Travis Scott continued to perform for about 30 minutes as the chaos unfolded and people shouted 'stop the show'. The show was called off nearly 40 minutes after the fire department had declared it a 'mass casualty event'.
'Kendall and Kylie Jenner walked past bodies'
Kendall and Kylie "walked past bodies as they were escorted out of the event," a concertgoer told The Sun. "After everything went down, Kendall and Kylie were escorted out and walked past bodies and people getting CPR." The witness also added that the sisters were accompanied by "6 massive bodyguards" as "they kept their heads down and made sure no one saw their faces." However, Kylie and Kendall's rep denied the reports citing that "neither of the girls were nearby."
