Astroworld Allegedly Sued By Victims Family Against Travis Scott And Live Nation
A promising college student named Axel Acosta has been identified as one of the eight victims of the mass casualty incident that took place Friday night at Travis Scott's Astroworld Festival in Houston, Texas.
Axel's father, Edgar Acosta, confirmed to ABC 13 that his 21-year-old son was the unidentified concert attendee who had been recovered from Memorial Hermann Hospital after the tragedy.
Edgar told the outlet that filing a missing persons report on his son with authorities proved to be a challenge as Axel was a Washington resident. Police have not yet released a cause of death.
Other identified victims include: 14-year-old John Hilgert, 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez, 21-year-olds Franco Patiño and Jacob Jurinek, 23-year-old Rudy Peña, 27-year-old Mirza Danish Baig and another 23-year-old, who has not been identified publicly, per PEOPLE.
One of the lawsuits filed against Travis Scott and Live Nation was settled with the family of a 21-year-old man who died last year following a crowd surge at the rapper's Astroworld music festival, according to the family's attorney.
The attorney, Tony Buzbee, filed a lawsuit in November seeking more than $750 million on behalf of at least 125 victims, including Axel Acosta, whose family reached a confidential settlement.
"Victim Axel Acosta was a beloved son, brother, and student," Buzbee said in an emailed statement on Thursday. "He was kind and loving. He is greatly missed. Please keep his family in your prayers."
The lawsuit named the concert’s organizer, Live Nation, as one of the defendants. The company declined to comment Thursday.
A source connected to the case told The Richest that Live Nation, not Travis Scott, is paying the settlement.
Acosta, who was a computer science major at Western Washington University, had traveled alone to Houston to attend the festival. Authorities initially had trouble identifying him and had released a photo of him seeking the public’s help.
KTRK-TV first reported that the family of another victim, 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez, had also settled their lawsuit.
Court records show that Rodriguez’s family had settled their lawsuit against defendants Live Nation, Scott and others on July 22. Her family previously described Rodriguez as a high school junior in Houston who had loved to dance, per ABC News.
“Brianna Rodriguez was deeply loved and is terribly missed by her parents, her entire and extended family, her friends, and by her peers at Heights High School. Brianna’s memory will forever live within those whose lives she touched and through the nonprofit organization, Dancing Through Bri, which has been created to provide scholarships to college-bound dancers and athletes,” Robin Blanchette and Troy Williams, attorneys for Rodriguez’s family, said in a statement Thursday.
Ted Anastasiou, a spokesperson for Travis Scott, said in a statement Thursday that no member of the rapper’s legal team has participated in any settlement discussions.
Attorneys for Live Nation, the world’s largest concert promoter, did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday.
Within the last few weeks, the families of at least three other victims who died at the festival have amended their lawsuits to include Michael Rapino, Live Nation’s CEO and president, as a defendant, according to court records.
Live Nation’s attorneys have asked that Rapino be dismissed from the case because the families’ attorneys have failed to show he was personally involved in any matters related to the festival, according to court records.
More than 500 lawsuits were filed after the deadly concert. The 10 people who died were among 50,000 who attended the festival.
Those who died ranged in age from 9 to 27 years old. Roughly 300 people were injured and treated at the scene, and 25 were taken to hospitals. Those killed died from compression asphyxia.
Sources: People, NBC News,ABC News
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