Travis Scott “absolutely” should have stopped his headlining set at this weekend’s deadly Astroworld Festival, the chief of the Houston Fire Department says.
Speaking with Savannah Guthrie on Tuesday’s edition of Today, fire chief Samuel Peña noted that the investigation into the festival—which left eight people dead—remains “in its infancy” at this time. However, investigative authorities are now starting to get “some picture” on what went wrong.
“It seems as though the crowd began try to push toward the front to get as close to the stage as they could when Mr. Scott’s set began,” Peña said. “What was happening is the barricades that were placed to prevent that surge toward the stage in essence caused other areas of pinch points. As the crowd began to surge and push and compress toward the front, it was those people in the center that began to get crushed.”
And while the Houston Police Department is taking the lead on the investigation, Peña was able to offer additional insight regarding where things currently stand and what his personal take is regarding a performer’s responsibility to crowd safety at events of this nature.
Peña, who previously addressed the Astroworld deaths during a press conference over the weekend, was asked around three minutes into Tuesday’s interview whether he believed Scott “should have called an end to the concert” once he noticed what was happening. As seen in widely shared footage, the “Escape Plan” artist did briefly pause his set at one point, though he quickly resumed performing.