HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — “Where’s the justice in the United States?”
After hearing the grand jury’s decision to not indict rapper Travis Scott in a criminal investigation into the Astroworld Festival disaster, the family of one of the victims is sharing their feelings to the ABC13.
Jennifer Peña heard the news from her home in Laredo.
Her brother, 23-year-old Rudy Peña, was one of 10 people killed at the Astroworld Festival. Now, more than 18 months after the deadly concert incident at NRG Park, no one has been held criminally responsible for the tragedy.
“My family is still healing from this, which is hard for my mom, especially because she is trying to heal, and when it comes to this news about my brother, it’s like opening her wound from the bottom of her heart again,” she said.
SEE ALSO: Grand jury decides not to bring charges in case of deadly Astroworld Festival concert surge
Eyewitness News reached Eric Daniels from Arizona. He and his son went to Astroworld to celebrate his son’s graduation.
“People were getting hurt, trampled, and suffocated. My son and I saw two people die right in front of us. We were on an elevated platform,” Daniels explained. “I feel like they knew there were a lot of people that were in danger, and they continued to have the concert go on.”
Civil lawsuits are ongoing, but it could be more than two years before the cases go to trial.
“We have to decide that the civil side, and they may run parallel, but those are two different courts and two different standards of proof,” Jesus Garcia, with Kherkher Garcia Law Firm, which is representing hundreds of clients, said. “And we are going to show that there were a lot of people responsible for this tragedy.”
Watch in-depth coverage of what unfolded at the festival in Astroworld Aftermath
For Peña, the money that could come from those lawsuits will help, but, she said, it won’t lead her toward healing.
“Money won’t bring my brother back,” she said. “He left a seat where he will not be sitting with us while we eat while we have a family reunion.”
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