Astroworld 9-Year-Old Victim’s Father Breaks Silence on Son’s Grim Health Diagnosis

The father of a 9-year-old boy who is a devout fan of Travis Scott is speaking out as the child remains hospitalized with severe brain swelling following the Astroworld Festival tragedy. Ezra Blout attended the concert with his father Treston on Friday, Nov. 5 and is now fighting for his life. His father spoke with an ABC affiliate station in Texas as he wishes for a miracle.

Treston told reporters that Ezra was eager to see Scott perform. “He was stoked. He was ready to go,” he said. “When I found out that he was a big fan [of Travis Scott], I was like, “Oh yeah, we gotta go, we gotta go see Travis live.”

Knowing the potential chaos of large music events, Treston says he purposely stood further in the back with Ezra just in case things got out of hand. He held Ezra on his shoulders so that he could see above the crowd. 

“We was in the back, way in the back, and I figured, ‘Okay, this is cool,’ ’cause the front can get a little wild,” Treston said. But as things grew wild, Treston says he fainted from becoming overheated and was trampled. Once he regained consciousness, he learned that Ezra had already been taken to the hospital. When he got to the hopsital, the diagnosis was grim: Ezra’s major organs had been damaged and he had brain swelling.

“I could tell that he was damaged,” Treston said of seeing his son for the first time. “I’m not ready to lose my boy at all. We still got a bunch of living to do…That’s my boy.”

The concert went on for 45-minutes before it was shut down, despite the chaos erupting in the audience. Scott’s team has spoken out on numerous occasions, insisting he was unaware of the dangers at bay. He also insists he’s working with investigators daily and is trying to find a way to connect with fans who have been injured, as well as the 9 families of those who died. 

Despite Scott’s apologies, several lawsuits have been filed, including one on behalf of Ezra. The Blout family filed a lawsuit against Scott, 30, and others alleging their “grossly negligent conduct” contributed to Ezra’s life-threatening injuries.

PEOPLE Magazine reports that the complaint alleges that Ezra was “kicked, stepped on, and trampled, and nearly crushed to death” at the festival. “To his young, growing body, these injuries will have life-long effects, impairing his quality of life and ability to grow and thrive as he would have had he not been subjected to this incident,” according to the complaint.

The suit further “alleges negligence in a great number of aspects, including crowd control, failure to provide proper medical attention, hiring, training, supervision and retention.”