A 9-year-old boy is fighting for his life after being trampled at Travis Scott’s deadly Astroworld concert in Houston.
Ezra Blount was at the concert on Friday with his father when the crowd surged toward the stage crushing some concertgoers and resulting in the deaths of eight people.
The young boy was reportedly sitting on his father’s shoulders when the incident happened which also resulted in hundreds of people injured.
“My son had Ezra on his shoulders at the concert and my son couldn’t breathe because of all the pressure that was being applied to him and he passed out,” Ezra’s grandfather told KTRK-TV.
“And when he passed out, Ezra fell into the crowd. He was trampled really bad.”
When Ezra’s dad, whose name wasn’t disclosed, awoke in the concert venue’s medical station his son had already been taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest, the station reported.
The hospital booked the child as a “John Doe,” the family told the station. He’s now in a coma, according to family.
“How could this happen in the city of Houston?” Ezra’s grandfather said. “When we go to concerts and different events, we expect safety and security. All the videos I’ve seen, I didn’t see any security – I saw very little security.”
The child has damage to his kidney, lungs, and heart and is suffering from brain swelling, his grandfather said.
“He’s a small innocent child — he didn’t deserve that, he didn’t deserve that at all,” the grandfather added.
The family has hired prominent attorney Ben Crump, who is already representing several other people injured in lawsuits against organizers.
In a statement, Crump said the child’s coma was medically induced in an attempt to combat his brain trauma.
“The suffering that this family is going through is immeasurable,” Crump said in a statement. “This little boy had his whole life ahead of him – a life that is currently hanging in the balance because of the reckless mismanagement that ensued at the Astroworld Festival.
“We ask everyone to send up the most powerful prayers they can as this family tries to grapple with the undoable damage that has been done to their son. We demand justice for EB, his family, and all of our clients that left Astroworld with trauma.”
According to CNN two high school students aged 14 and 16, a mechanical engineering technology student from Illinois and a man who was trying to save his fiancée are also among the victims of Friday’s tragedy.
Scott has said he will pay for the funerals of those who lost their lives at the concert.
The two-day festival, curated by rapper Travis Scott and organized by concert promoter Live Nation, was halted on Friday after the incident.
In a statement Monday morning, Live Nation said it will “continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time,” as per NBC News.
My heart goes out to all the families involved in this tragedy. I can only hope that they get the answers they need and lessons are learned from this horrific incident.
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