[UPDATE 11/14/21]: Ezra Blount, the nine-year-old who had been on life support after being critically injured during the crowd surge at Astroworld Festival, has died, his family confirmed to ABC13.
As Ezra Blount’s family attorney Ben Crump said in a statement, “The Blount family is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son. This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra’s death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer.”
A GoFundMe has been set up, here, to help the family with expenses.
There are now ten deaths linked to the events at Astroworld. Eight attendees were confirmed dead in the immediate aftermath of the event. Last Wednesday, Bharti Shahani, a 22-year-old Texas A&M student who was injured in the crowd at Astroworld, passed away after several days in the hospital. The other victims have been identified as John Hilgert, 14; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Franco Patino, 21; Danish Baig, 27; Jacob Jurinek, 20; Rodolfo Peña, 23; Axel Acosta Avila, 21; Madison Dubiski, 23; and Bharti Shahani, 22.
View this post on Instagram
[11/9/21]: Heartbreaking details continue to emerge from Houston following the deadly crowd surge during Travis Scott‘s set at Astroworld Festival on Friday night.
Eight people died in the crowd at Astroworld, while hundreds more were reportedly injured. Among the injured was Ezra Blount, a 9-year-old who remains in a medically induced coma after being “trampled” in the audience.
According to a statements from Ezra’s grandfather, Bernon Blount, and grandmother, Tericia Blount, to Rolling Stone, Ezra was at the event with his father, Treston Blount. When Treston and Ezra were trapped in the surge around 9:00 p.m. on Friday, Treston put Ezra on his shoulders and attempted to walk him out of the crowd.
As Bernon Blount, Ezra’s grandfather, told Houston ABC affiliate KTRK on Tuesday morning, “[Treston] was trying to keep Ezra safe, but with him holding Ezra up, that left him vulnerable down [in the crowd]. He got really squeezed. He just told me, ‘Dad, I couldn’t breathe, and I just passed out.'” When Treston fell, Ezra fell, leaving him vulnerable to the surging crowd.
“We don’t know really what happened to Ezra after that,” his grandmother told Rolling Stone.
Per KTRK, “Initially, the boy was taken to a hospital as a John Doe, separated from his father. Family members desperately tried to find him, only to discover that Ezra suffered major organ damage and was in a coma” at a local hospital. Ezra had been transported to the hospital while his father was still receiving onsite medical treatment at NRG Park.
“It’s horrific,” Ezra’s grandmother, who is a nurse, added to Rolling Stone. “We’re just hanging in there, trying to stay strong. He has injuries to his kidney, to his lung, to his liver. Basically every organ has damage. He had cardiac arrest. His heart is weak and has damage as well. And his brain has swelling, and he’s in an induced coma. They’re just trying to keep him comfortable and trying to figure out a plan for him. They tried to take him off the medications that were paralyzing him, to keep him still, and they had to put him back on. We’re just at that place right now, just hoping for the best in spite of all the negative information.”
“We have a lot of anger right now because someone is responsible for the condition of our grandson,” Bernon Blount told Rolling Stone. “For him to have the injuries he has, I can’t help picturing in my mind what he had to go through to get those injuries. Someone should be held responsible. He went there with his father to have a good time, not to be trampled halfway to… I don’t want to even say the word.”
Attorney Ben Crump, whose services have been retained by the Blount family for a civil suit against festival organizers, said in a statement, “The suffering that this family is going through is immeasurable. 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.”
Below, watch a local news interview with Bernon Blount, the grandfather of Ezra Blount and father of Treston Blount, about the incident. A GoFundMe has been set up to help the family with expenses. We’re keeping Ezra Blount in our thoughts.
Grandfather of 9-year-old victim discusses incident
In the days since Friday night’s chaos at the Houston music festival, fans have turned NRG Park into a memorial for those who died at the event. The victims have been identified as John Hilgert, 14; Brianna Rodriguez, 16; Franco Patino, 21; Danish Baig, 27; Jacob Jurinek, 20; Rodolfo Peña, 23; Axel Acosta Avila, 21; Madison Dubiski, 23; and Bharti Shahani, 22.
As of noon ET on Tuesday, CNN estimated that nearly twenty separate lawsuits have been filed in relation to the Astroworld incident on Friday, with many more expected to be filed in the coming days. A number of the suits point to festival host/headliner Travis Scott’s history of stoking reckless crowd behavior during shows as an issue that should have been more actively addressed by organizers ahead of the event.
Both Travis Scott and Drake, who was onstage with Scott during the crowd surge, have issued statements on the incident. Scott also canceled an upcoming set at Day N Vegas Festival, where he is due to be replaced by Post Malone, and announced that all Astroworld ticket-buyers would have their money refunded. Scott has also pledged to cover funeral costs for those who died at the event.