HOUSTON – Travis Scott has settled his first lawsuit with one of the victims of the Astroworld tragedy that left 10 people dead.
The Astroworld music festival kicked off its third annual installment in Nov. 2021 at NRG Park in Houston with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance.
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Eight people died at the festival and two more victims died in the weeks following — including a 9-year-old boy.
Axel Acosta, 21, was one of the victims and his family is the one who settled their lawsuit.
KSAT’s sister station KPRC received the following statement from attorney Tony Buzbee who is representing more than 120 clients of the tragedy, including Acosta:
The Buzbee Law Firm announced today that the claims brought by the family of Axel Acosta against Travis Scott, Live Nation, and others involved in the Astroworld tragedy have settled. The terms are confidential. Victim Axel Acosta was a beloved son, brother, and student. He was kind and loving. He is greatly missed. Please keep his family in your prayers.
Acosta’s father, Edgar Acosta, said he found out about his son’s death through the internet after trying to contact law enforcement agencies in Houston, Buzbee told KPRC.
The Associated Press reported that more than 300 people were treated at a field hospital at Astroworld.
The Astroworld victims have been identified as:
- Ezra Blount, 9
- John Hilgert, 14
- Brianna Rodriguez, 16
- Franco Patino, 21
- Bharti Shahani, 22
- Danish Baig, 27
- Jacob Jurinek, 20
- Axel Acosta, 21
- Rodolfo Peña, 23
- Madison Dubiski, 23
Ezra and Shahani both died in the days following the festival.
Festival attendees have said in interviews with multiple news outlets that a countdown clock was broadcast on stage about half an hour before Scott took the stage, which was just after 9 p.m.
“And all of a sudden, people compressed up against each other and were pushing forward and backward. As the timer got closer to coming down to zero, it just - it got worse and worse,” ICU nurse and Astroworld concertgoer Madeline Eskins told CNN.
Another person who was at the festival, Niaara Goods, told the Associated Press that “as soon as he jumped out on the stage, it was like an energy took over and everything went haywire. All of a sudden, your ribs are being crushed. You have someone’s arm in your neck. You’re trying to breathe, but you can’t.”
A medical examiner listed Axel’s death as “compression asphyxia,” KPRC reported.
Scott has previously stated on social media that he is “devastated” by the events at his concert.
The rapper, along with his company Jack Enterprises and his label Cactus Jack, has been sued by dozens of victims since the tragedy. There are still multiple lawsuits against Scott and Live Nation related to the mass casualty event.
Scott previously asked a judge to dismiss 11 lawsuits against him that allege he is responsible for the deaths and injuries of Astroworld attendees.
The rapper spoke to Charlamagne Tha God in an hour-long interview one month after the festival tragedy and said, “I’m gonna fix this problem and make sure this doesn’t happen in the future and be the number one voice for this.”
Scott maintained during the interview that he had no idea people were dying in the crowd during his performance.
He said he never heard fans screaming to stop the show and said, “anytime you hear something like that, you want to stop the show. You want to make sure fans get the proper attention they need.”