HOUSTON -- Fences outside the park where Travis Scott performed Friday evening were lined with flower bouquets and notes to the eight people at the high-energy festival who died after the crowd surged toward the stage.
The night before, concertgoers lit dozens of candles in the shape of the number 8 to honor the lives lost at the Astroworld Festival at NRG Park. By Sunday morning, there were piles of flowers and a slow stream of teary-eyed people in festival merchandise who stopped by to pay their respects. A nonprofit from San Antonio provided therapy dogs to help ease the pain.
"I feel just so saddened and lost right now," said 18-year-old Marc Medina, who had watched Scott rap from center stage Friday. He stared at the T-shirts that hung from the fence.
He's had a hard time sleeping since that night, he said -- every time he closed his eyes, he thought about a man he saw on the ground whose face had turned purple.
"If you see bodies like that, it's hard to forget," he said.
A criminal investigation is underway in Houston, led by homicide detectives, as law enforcement officials seek to understand what happened to the eight who died and the scores more who were injured at the sold-out event.
[Video not showing up above? Click here to watch » arkansasonline.com/118astroworld/]
"This is now a criminal investigation that's going to involve our homicide division as well as narcotics, and we're going to get down to the bottom of it," Houston Police Chief Troy Finner said at a news conference Saturday.
The "all-encompassing" investigation is being led by the homicide division, and "everybody that needs to be involved will be involved," Jodi Silva, a spokeswoman for the Houston Police Department, said Sunday.
The investigation probably will go on for "quite some time to determine what exactly happened," Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, D, said Saturday, noting that it could be days or weeks or "even longer."
On Sunday, between the two memorials along the fences, security guards let in concert attendees who had left belongings in lockers or who wanted to search the lost and found.
The victims ranged in age from 14 to 27, according to Turner.
At least 25 people were taken to a hospital Friday night, and 13 were still hospitalized Saturday afternoon, including five juveniles. A 10-year-old child was in critical condition, officials said.
An estimated 50,000 people attended the Friday show, part of an event organized by Scott, whose concerts have a reputation for rowdiness.
In February 2018, Scott agreed to plead guilty to disorderly conduct at a show at the Walmart Arkansas Music Pavilion in Rogers, the previous year. Rogers police said in a statement that Scott "encouraged people to rush the stage and bypass the security protocols to ensure concert goer safety," and that several people were injured in the rush.
Additional charges of inciting a riot and endangering the welfare of a minor were dismissed as part of Scott's plea deal. The law firm that represented Scott said he was also required to pay $6,825 to two people who said that they were injured at the concert.
Live Nation will be the biggest target but hardly the only one, he said. The entertainment giant has been on the defensive before, with a history of federal safety complaints.
In videos posted Saturday to his Instagram story, Scott said he is working with Houston officials to understand what happened and help the families of the victims.
"Any time I could make out anything that was going on, I stopped the show and helped them get the help they need," he added.
Turner said about 530 Houston police officers and 755 private security officers hired by Live Nation were at the event. Asked why authorities had not ended the show sooner, Finner said Saturday it would have been unsafe.
The Astroworld Festival is produced by entertainment behemoth Live Nation and the Texas-based ScoreMore Promotions, of which Live Nation acquired a majority stake in 2018.
Sascha Stone Guttfreund, who runs the company that produced the Astroworld Festival with Live Nation, told The Post on Saturday night that he was working with authorities. Guttfreund did not respond to requests for comment Sunday.
"It may well be that this tragedy is a result of unpredictable events, of circumstances coming together that couldn't possibly have been avoided," Guttfreund said. "But until we determine that, I will ask the tough questions."
Information for this article was contributed by Emily Davies, Paulina Firozi, Kim Bellware, Annabelle Timsit, Arelis R. Hernández, Mariana Alfaro, Marisa Iati, Adela Suliman, Sarah Cahlan, Elyse Samuels, Jennifer Hassan and Rachel Pannett of The Washington Post, and by Jonathan Landrum Jr. of The Associated Press.
