The funeral for nine-year-old Ezra Blount, the youngest victim of Travis Scott’s Astroworld concert, was held Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Dallas.
According to a statement issued by the Blount family attorneys, Ezra was “trampled and catastrophically injured” by the crowd surge at the Astroworld concert in Houston on November 5.
Ezra attended the Astroworld festival with his father, Treston Blount, who said he chose a place near the back of the crowd, thinking it would be calmer there. Treston said his son was riding on his shoulders when Scott appeared on the stage. At the sight of the artist, the audience suddenly began to push each other.
As the crowd shoved forward toward the stage, Treston collapsed, causing Ezra to fall with him, and the two became separated. Treston wrote on the GoFundMe page for his son’s medical expenses that he was “crushed until [he] couldn’t breathe” and passed out, only to realize when “[he] woke up [his] son was gone.”
His grandparents found Ezra afterward, alone in a hospital room, in a medically induced coma due to severe organ damage and brain swelling.
The nine-year-old passed away from his injuries a little more than a week after being admitted to the hospital. In death, he became the tenth and youngest victim in the tragedy that injured hundreds.
The Blounts’ lawsuit is among more than 300 others filed by attorneys Ben Crump and Thomas J. Henry against the festival’s event organizers, venue managers, and performers.
The family’s suit alleges that the event organizers and venue managers were negligent regarding crowd control, event staffing, and medical attention.
Scott released a statement after the tragic incident, saying, “I’m absolutely devastated by what took place last night. My prayers go out to the families and all those impacted by what happened in the Astroworld festival.”
The Houston-native artist also announced that he intends to cover medical expenses for those affected by the tragedy and funeral costs for the deceased, including Ezra.
The public was invited to remember and celebrate Ezra’s life at the funeral service honoring him on Tuesday, held at the Inspiring Body of Christ Church on Westmoreland Road in southern Dallas.
