HOUSTON (KRON) – Travis Scott and Astroworld festival organizers on Monday announced they are issuing “full refunds” to everyone who bought tickets following the deadly concert in which 8 people died and many others injured.
Organizer Scoremore issued a statement on Twitter offering condolences to the victims.
“Full refunds are being offered for all those who purchased tickets,” Scoremore said in its tweeted statement Monday about the steps it was taking along with Live Nation and the Astroworld Festival team.
Scoremore added it will refund attendees and is “working on ways to support attendees, the families of victims, and staff, from providing mental health counseling to setting up a health fund to help with costs for medical expenses.”
Key questions remained unanswered after the Astroworld festival at county-owned NRG Park. Some of the lingering questions involve what the Houston police and fire departments did before, during and after a crowd surged toward the stage, killing eight people and injuring dozens of others. Others center on the actions of event organizers.
Officials with the Houston police and fire departments have said that part of their investigation will include reviewing whether the concert promoter and others behind the festival adhered to the plans that were submitted for the event.
Astroworld’s organizers laid out security and emergency medical response protocols for the festival in plans filed with Harris County. The 56-page operations plan, obtained by The Associated Press, says that a decision to evacuate the event would be made by the festival director after consultation with other individuals, including the security director. Such plans were filed with Harris County and Houston and have to be reviewed by Houston police officials.
Officials have said a private company was primarily responsible for providing security at the festival, but Houston police were also assigned to the event. The plan says medical care at the festival was provided by ParaDocs, a private company based in New York.
Houston Fire Chief Samuel Peña had said during a news conference on Saturday that the injuries and size of the crowd “quickly overwhelmed” the private companies providing security and medical services. Peña said even though the medical operations plan did not require that the fire department have units pre-positioned around the festival, his agency decided to have those units in place “in case this incident escalated.”
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said in a statement on Monday that he had a “brief and respectful” meeting with Scott and the rapper’s head of security on Friday before his performance. The chief said he asked them to work with the police department.
“I expressed my concerns regarding public safety and that in my 31 years in law enforcement experience I have never seen a time with more challenges facing citizens of all ages, to include a global pandemic and social tension throughout the nation,” Finner said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.