HOUSTON (AP) – When rapper Travis Scott’s sold-out concert in Houston became a deadly scene of panic and danger in the surging crowd, Edgar Acosta began worrying about his son, who wasn’t answering his phone.
He called hospitals and police, who told him his son was not on the list of victims from the Astroworld festival. They were wrong: Axel Acosta Avila, 21, was among the eight people who died Friday night at the outdoor festival that was attended by some 50,000 people and is now the focus of a criminal investigation.
On Monday, authorities released the names of the dead as they continued looking into what went wrong when a crush of fans pressed forward after Scott took the stage. Houston’s police chief said Monday he had met with Scott before the rapper’s performance on Friday about safety concerns but did not elaborate about what, specifically, concerned him.
“They told me, Mr. Acosta, your son is not on the list so you don’t have to worry about anything. He’s not on the list of dead people or injured people” said Edgar Acosta, whose family is among those suing organizers of the festival.
“I told them, ‘Well, he didn’t spend then night at his hotel, so I’m worried about him.”