HOUSTON – Key questions remain unanswered after at least eight people were killed and hundreds more were injured in a massive crowd surge at the Astroworld music festival held Friday at NRG Park.
The Houston Police Department opened a criminal investigation less than a day after the tragedy. Houston’s police chief said detectives are working “around the clock” to determine what factors contributed to the deadly incident.
“We’re not going to leave any stones unturned,” Finner said.
Houston Police Chief Troy Finner addressed reporters during a news conference Wednesday, the second such briefing he’s held since the tragedy. During the news conference, Finner defended his department’s ability to handle the criminal investigation, dismissed calls for an outside investigation and criticized what he described as “a lot of speculation that isn’t helpful.”
“I’m really confident in who we are here at HPD and think we can do our own investigation,” Finner said. “Let’s not jump ahead of things. We’re only a few days into this and I’m pretty confident in what our investigators are doing already.”
Finner says detectives have viewed hours of video and have gathered statements from numerous witnesses and victims and added that “there’s still more to come.”
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Finner cautioned that the investigation is in its early stages, said it could take weeks or months to complete, and added that there are still many unknowns. Among those -- the number of security guards on the ground at the event. Finner said it remains unclear how many security personnel were working the festival Friday night.
“I’m not comfortable yet with the numbers [Live Nation] is giving us,” Finner said. “The challenge is you have three or four security companies and some of the records are not good.”
Finner said around 530 Houston police officers were at the festival, more than twice as many as when the event was held in 2019. Finner said law enforcement at the event managed traffic and secured the perimeter of the festival grounds. The responsibility of private security, Finner said, included securing the two mosh pits in front of the stage.
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Finner said the ultimate authority to end the show was with the event’s production team and the entertainer.
“As police chief, I can promise you one thing -- My team, we’re going to be laser focused on investigating the facts, not pointing fingers at other organizations,” Finner said.
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 prior to the festival.
“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.
Finner said he did not have a special relationship with the rapper, who he has only met twice.
At least two concertgoers remain hospitalized in critical condition following the chaos at the music festival Friday.
“There’s nothing more important than the families,” Finner said. “We have eight families who lost loved ones. We have two families that have loved ones in the hospital in critical condition so I want to be respectful of that. There has been a lot of talk, a lot of rumors, a lot of opinions, a lot of speculation that isn’t helpful and it’s harmful to the families when it’s authorities that are saying that. Everybody has their role in society and I respect those roles. But I also expect us to be decent and consider those families and that includes our Houston Harris County officials . . . I just want us all, as a city, as a nation, pray for these families. I can’t imagine what they’re going through right now.”
Watch the full press conference below.