Over two dozen arrested following Houston music festival

Officials said on Saturday that 25 people were arrested following a stampede of people at a Houston music festival that left eight people dead on Friday night.

Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said during a press conference Saturday that 23 people had been arrested for trespassing, one had been arrested for possession of marijuana and one was arrested for public intoxication. 

It remains unclear if the charges were connected to the incident that took place on Friday night during rapper Travis Scott’s concert as Astroworld festival. Eight people died after a large swath of people surged toward the concert stage.

Finner also mentioned that officials did receive a report from medical staff of a security officer who had a suspicious prick on his neck. 

“We do have a report of a security officer, according to the medical staff, that was out and treated him last night, that he was reaching over to restrain or grab a citizen and he felt a prick in his neck,” Finner said. 

“When he was examined, he went unconscious. They administered narcan. He was revived, and the medical staff did notice a prick that was similar to a prick that you would get if somebody is trying to inject,” he continued. 

Officials noted they were still trying to determine why the crowd pushed toward the stage, trampling people.  

Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner (D) reported during the press conference that seven of the eight people who died ranged from 14 to 27 years old. He noted that the eighth person’s age remained unknown at that time. 

He added that 25 people had been transported to the hospital following the deadly incident, and that 13 people were still being hospitalized, including five people under the age of 18. 

Four people who were hospitalized have already been charged, Turner said. He added that no one has been reported missing from the concert.

“I’m not aware of any incident of this kind that has taken place at any one of our special events, either on the county side or the city side, pretty much in the last, I’m gonna imagine the last 40 years, where anybody has lost life,” Turner said.

He said while he has heard of incidents where there may have been a crowd rush or someone was injured, he said that he had seen “nothing of this magnitude that any of us can recall and certainly that I can recall that has taken place in the city.”