*Ezra Blount, the 9-year-old who was on life support after getting trampled at Travis Scott’s Astroworld Festival has died.
The death toll from the Nov. 5 concert in Houston, Texas is now at 10, but some suspect this number is actually higher and being suppressed by local officials in Scott’s hometown. Hundreds were injured at the event during a crowd surge that rushed the stage.
Ben Crump, attorney for the Blount family, said in a statement: “The Blount family tonight is grieving the incomprehensible loss of their precious young son. This should not have been the outcome of taking their son to a concert, what should have been a joyful celebration. Ezra’s death is absolutely heartbreaking. We are committed to seeking answers and justice for the Blount family. But tonight we stand in solidarity with the family, in grief, and in prayer.”
As reported by PEOPLE, Houston mayor Sylvester Turner also shared his condolences in a statement posted on Twitter.
“I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening,” he wrote. “Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time. They will need all of our support in the months and years to come. May God give them strength. RIP Ezra.”
READ MORE: Boy, 9, in Coma After Being Trampled at Astroworld, Family Suing Travis Scott
I am saddened to learn of Ezra’s death this evening. Our city tonight prays for his mom, dad, grandparents, other family members and classmates at this time. They will need all of our support in the months and years to come. May God give them strength. RIP Ezra. st #AstroWorld pic.twitter.com/Ankq7FMa3l
— Sylvester Turner (@SylvesterTurner) November 15, 2021
Ezra was sitting on his father Treston Blount’s shoulders during the concert when dad passed out from the pressure of the crowd. Ezra fell from his shoulders and was trampled.
“He kept screaming, ‘I can’t breathe.’ But everyone was pushing. It was so tight with no exits. His dad couldn’t breathe at all and passed out. We don’t really know what happened to Ezra after that,” Ezra’s grandmother Tericia Blount told Rolling Stone.
When Treston finally came to, his son had already been taken to the hospital.
The boy’s family retained famed civil rights attorney Ben Crump to take legal action against Travis Scott and concert promoter Live Nation.
“This young child and his family will face life-altering trauma from this day forward, a reality that nobody expects when they buy concert tickets. Concerts and music festivals such as this are meant to be a safe place for people of all ages to enjoy music in a controlled environment. None of that was true about the Astroworld Festival,” Crump said in a statement. “This little boy is currently fighting for his life, and his parents will never know the same child they entered Astroworld with.”
The family’s legal filing states that Ezra was “kicked, stepped on, and trampled” by audience members during the crowd surge, and that concertgoers were picking up “unconscious bodies of friends and strangers and surfed them over the top of the crowd, hoping to send them to safety.”
“I could tell that he was damaged,” Ezra’s dad told ABC 13 Houston prior to his son’s passing. “I’m not ready to lose my boy at all. We still got a bunch of living to do … That’s my boy.”
Scott said in a statement to PEOPLE on Thursday that he and his team are “actively exploring routes of connection with each and every family affected by the tragedy through the appropriate liaisons.”
The hip-hop star added that he’s “distraught by the situation and desperately wishes to share his condolences and provide aid to [the families] as soon as possible, but wants to remain respectful of each family’s wishes on how they’d best like to be connected.”
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