Photo: Getty Images
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner did a press conference yesterday, and answered a lot of questions about what happened on Friday night during the Astroworld Festival.
First, remember he told media that the police had confirmed one case of a security official being pricked in the neck while trying to restrain or grab a citizen? That wasn’t the case; turns out the security guard was struck in the head and knocked unconscious. So there was NO needle spiking.
Chief Finner also suggested that part of the issue that caused the tragedy on Friday stemmed from fans storming the festival gates to get to exclusive merch; He admitted that non-ticketed fans had breached the barriers as early as 9 or 10AM.
He went to add that it was Live Nation’s role to secure “mosh pits” at the festival. And he noted - once CPR was being applied to a handful of concertgoers, HPD informed production personnel “in charge” of the festival to shut down the event -- but said that decision was up to organizers and the performer, Travis Scott.
The police chief also noted that Travis’ performance DID actually end earlier than scheduled when it wrapped around 10:15PM,- It was scheduled to last until 11.
Chief Finner also talked about the number of security officials at the show, stating that HPD’s presence at the festival has escalated over the years from 170 in 2018, 240 in 2019 and 530 in 2021. As for private security officials, he said the numbers were less certain.
“I’m not comfortable with the numbers yet with what they're giving us. The challenge is you have three or four security companies and some of the records are not good,” said Finner.
Source: Billboard.
Photo Credit: THOMAS SHEA/AFP via Getty Images.