When it comes down to the Travis Scott Astroworld tragedy, the Houston fire department seems to be saying something different than the police department.
The two public safety departments seem to be giving conflicting messages as the city’s fire chief says that the artist should not have finished the show.
This is the complete opposite of what the chief of police said on Monday.
According to Variety, Houston Police Chief Troy Finner believed that letting the show continue was the right strategy. He said that if they had stopped the show, a riot might have ensued.
Fire Chief Samuel Pena tells the Today show that he thinks that it was irresponsible.
“Everybody at that event has a responsibility, starting from the artist on down,” Chief Pena shared. “The artist has command of that crowd … if he notices something going on, he can certainly pause that performance, turn on the lights and say, ‘Hey, we’re not going to continue until this thing is resolved.'”
Pena continued, “There was evidence that the crowd itself was trying to approach some of their private security, security that was closer to that stage … At one point, there was an ambulance that was trying to make its way through the crowd.”
The Chief also noted that he was “not prepared to say” that the Scott “was fully aware of what was going on,” giving space for the artist to admit that he didn’t know how bad the chaos in the audience had gotten.
“All I’m saying is that everybody at that event, from the artist on down — security and everybody that’s there to provide public safety, including the crowds — we all have a responsibility,” Pena surmised. “We really need to take a critical look at everything that went on there because we cannot have this happen again, here in the city or anywhere.”
As reported by AllHipHop.com, Travis Scott is refunding tickets monies for all attendees, paying the funeral expenses for the eight people who died. But he is still getting sued by the families.
The story is developing.