A Texas grand jury has decided not to indict rapper Travis Scott for the deadly stampede at the 2021 Astroworld Music Festival.
The decision came after a huge crowd surged toward the stage at the festival, causing panic in Houston’s NRG Park on Nov. 5, 2021. Ten people died and thousands of others were injured.
“It is tragic that 10 innocent people were killed while trying to enjoy an evening of music and entertainment,” Harris County District Attorney Kim Ogg said in a news release Thursday. “But a tragedy isn’t always a crime, and not every death is a homicide.”
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The D.A.’s office said they reviewed the evidence before declining to prosecute Jaques Webster II (aka Travis Scott), or the festival manager, Live Nation, production company BWG, or the crowd management company.
Scott’s attorney Kent Schaffer called the decision not to prosecute the rapper a “great relief.”
“It has just been confirmed to me that the grand jury no-billed Travis Scott, which is great relief to Travis. It’s something we were hoping, something we expected based on lack of evidence,” Schaffer told Houston news station ABC13.
Scott ran the Astroworld Festival, which launched in 2018.
Hundreds of lawsuits have been filed in response to the crowd surge.
D.A. Ogg said Thursday’s decision “has no impact” on pending civil lawsuits.
