Ten concertgoers died in November 2021 at his Houston event.
A Harris County grand jury in Houston has cleared Travis Scott from any criminal wrongdoing in the aftermath that saw 10 concertgoers killed at his Astroworld Festival in November 2021.
Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg announced at a news conference Thursday that "the grand jury found that no crime did occur," and that "no single individual was criminally responsible." The investigation lasted 19 months and required a painstaking review of hours upon hours of video footage from the fatal event and interviews with witnesses.
"It is tragic that 10 innocent people were killed while trying to enjoy an evening of music and entertainment, something many of us do routinely and without a second thought to our safety. But a tragedy isn’t always a crime, and not every death is a homicide," said Ogg in a statement to ET. "This grand jury’s determination has no impact on the many civil lawsuits pending."
Ogg said grand jurors reviewed all of the evidence and considered the law that might be applicable before declining to indict Scott, festival manager Brent Silberstein, Live Nation's John Junell, BWG production's Emily Ockenden and Shawna Boardman and Seyth Boardman with crowd management Contemporary Services Corporation.
In a statement to ET, Scott's attorney, Teddy Anastasiou, said Thursday's decision by the Harris County D.A.'s Office "confirms what we have known all along -- that Travis Scott is not responsible for the AstroWorld tragedy. This is consistent with investigative reporting by numerous media outlets and federal and state government reports that have squarely placed the onus for event safety crises on [organizers], operators and contractors -- not performers."
He continued, "While waiting patiently for the District Attorney’s decision to not file charges, Travis Scott has been inaccurately and wrongly singled out, despite stopping the show three separate times and being unaware of the events as they were unfolding. Now that this chapter is closed, we hope for the government efforts to focus on what is most important -- stopping future heartbreaking tragedies like AstroWorld from ever occurring again."
Police officials said it conducted a thorough and complete investigation, which included focusing on the main stage where Scott performed and the section in the crowd -- or "quadrant 3" -- where all 10 deaths occurred. Officials said a key contributor to the tragedy was overpopulation and over compaction in "quadrant 3." They also underscored that the tragic event was not a crowd stampede, but an over-compaction resulting in collapses within the crowd.
Back in December 2021, the medical examiner determined all 10 victims died from "compression asphyxia." The manner is all ruled an accident.
Compression asphyxia is when "the respiration is prevented by external pressure on the body. It is usually due to external force compressing the trunk due to heavy weight over chest/abdomen and is associated with internal injuries," per the National Library of Medicine.
Houston Police Department Chief Troy Finner said the probe's final report is over 1,000 pages and, in the coming weeks, it will release it in its entirety in an effort to be transparent about the investigation.
The day after the Astroworld tragedy, Scott spoke out on Twitter, writing, "I am absolutely devastated by what took place last night."
"My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened at Astroworld Festival. Houston PD has my total support as they continue to look into the tragic loss of life," he continued. "I am committed to working together with the Houston community to heal and support the families in need. Thank you to Houston PD, Fire Department and NRG Park for their support. Love you all."
A month later, Scott spoke out for the first time and, in an hour-long interview, denied hearing any signs of distress from the crowd while he was performing.
"It’s so crazy because I’m that artist too. Anytime you can hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need," he said at the time. "Anytime I could see anything like that, I did. I stopped it a couple times to just make sure everybody was OK. And I really just go off the fans' energy as a collective, call and response. I just didn’t hear that."
Scott faced a number of civil lawsuits in the wake of the tragedy, though he's settled several of those suits.
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