The pandemonium unfolded Friday evening at Astroworld, a sold-out, two-day event in NRG Park with an estimated 50,000 people in attendance.
“As soon as he jumped out on the stage, it was like an energy took over and everything went haywire,” concertgoer Niaara Goods said.
The dead ranged in age from 14 to 27, and 13 people were still hospitalized Saturday, Mayor Sylvester Turner said.
Experts who have studied deaths caused by crowd surges say they are often a result of density — too many people packed into a small space.
He said he usually does not look at eyewitness reports in the early stages of analyzing an incident because emotions can cloud the picture, and witnesses can see only what’s immediately around them.
The deaths called to mind a 1979 concert by the Who where 11 people died as thousands of fans tried to get into Cincinnati’s Riverfront Coliseum.
At one point, Gerardo Abad-Garcia was pressed so tightly into the crowd that he could not move his arms off his chest.
The police chief said authorities were investigating reports of suspicious activity in the crowd, including a security officer who told police that he felt a prick in his neck during the chaos and lost consciousness while being examined by first responders.
He has a 3-year-old daughter with Kylie Jenner, who announced in September that she’s pregnant with their second child.