As fallout from the recent tragedy at the Astroworld Festival continues, talk of how the Travis Scott concert may have been mishandled and how it may impact future concerts in Texas continues on campus.

What was supposed to be a weekend to remember quickly escalated into a heartbreaking tragedy that resulted in ten deaths and hundreds of injuries. One of the individuals who lost her life was a Texas A&M Aggie. 

Freshman business administration major Evan Hernandez attended the concert and says he noticed things were going wrong from the start during the Nov. 5 concert in Houston. 

“So when I got there, it was already kind of chaotic with people, and the security wasn’t doing a good job containing them,” said Hernandez. 

Footage from attendees went viral showing the crowd rush the entrances and other VIP areas, which Hernandez confirmed was an accurate representation of the event. Hernandez agrees that security did a poor job keeping the crowd at bay. 

But things started to get worse for Hernandez since he was in the front, and the crowd began to push forward to the stage to see the show. What he witnessed then would set a grim tone for the rest of the night.

“Whenever I was in front watching Don Toliver, I saw people pass out, crying for help and that they needed help getting out,” said Hernandez. 

Hernandez adds that once Scott came out to perform, he realized that what was supposed to be a memorable night had quickly turned very bad.

“I knew it was getting serious when people started crying for help and no one was helping them,” said Hernandez, “There was a point where Travis stopped the concert and you could hear them even if they were far away, but then the security wasn’t really helping everyone in time.” Hernandez says this experience devastated him.

This tragedy also hit home for freshman nursing major Alexa Luna, who really felt the impact when she learned that one of the victims who lost his life, Rudy Pena, was from her hometown of Laredo. His death felt particularly devastating to her in addition to the overall calamitous loss of life. 

“When I heard about the victims, to me it’s pretty ridiculous that it had to get to that extreme that it cost people their lives when their initial intention was to go and enjoy a concert,” said Luna.

After hearing that Pena was from Laredo, it was a strong reminder for Luna that anything can happen to anyone regardless of where you are from. 

Scott has received backlash from those in attendance and the incidents have led to many  lawsuits being filed. Thomas J. Henry Law, who has an office in Corpus Christi, has stepped in to represent many of the victims. They put out a statement on Facebook regarding the incident on Sunday, Nov. 7.

“Travis Scott AND Drake are sued for ‘inciting the crowd’ that left eight Astroworld festivalgoers dead and several others severely injured, as victim claims he begged security for help and was ignored,” said the law firm’s page with a photo of a Daily Mail article’s headline. 

In a recent post, Henry’s law firm stated that it is now representing “more than 100 victims” of the Astroworld tragedy. Island Waves has reached out to Thomas J. Henry Law for a statement regarding the lawsuits but so far we have not received a response back.