Astroworld death toll reaches 10 after 9-year-old attendee dies from his injuries
Ezra Blount was attending the festival with his father when the mass casualty event occurred
Ezra Blount, a 9-year-old who attended Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival with his father on November 5, has become to the tenth person to die after succumbing to his injuries. The family’s attorney shared the news of his death on Sunday.
“The Blount family tonight is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son,” the Blount family attorney Ben Crump said in a statement. “This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra’s death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But tonight we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer.”
According to Treston Blount the child’s father, Ezra was sitting on his shoulders during Travis Scott’s headlining set on Friday night when the two found themselves trapped in a crowd surge. During the “mass casualty event,” Blount’s father passed out and his son fell to the ground, where he was kicked, stepped on, and trampled by the crowd.
Blount was rushed to the hospital and placed in a medically induced coma after suffering severe injuries to his liver, kidney, and brain, which caused him to go into cardiac arrest. After over a week, the young boy succumbed to his injuries.
A GoFundMe was established to cover the cost of Blount’s medical bills. As of Monday morning, the family had raised over $80,000 in donations. Following the event, Scott promised to cover the cost of victims’ funeral services.
Blount is the third minor to die as a result of the mass casualty event at Astroworld at NRG Park. On Thursday, a 22-year-old college student named Bharti Shahani died in the hospital following multiple hearts attacks during and after the crowd surge.
The Blount family is just one of over 100 attendees who have filed a lawsuit against rapper Travis Scott and event organizer Live Nation. Crump, the lawyer known for his representation of the family of George Floyd and Trayvon Martin, has filed lawsuit on behalf of 90 attendees.
“This lawsuit is not just about getting justice for them, but it’s about making sure the promoters and the organizers know that you cannot allow this to ever happen in the future, even if you have to immediately stop the concert,” Crump said during a November 12 press conference.