Roddy Ricch pledges support to Astroworld Festival victims' families
Nov 08, 2021
Washington [US], November 8 : American rapper Roddy Ricch, who was one of the performers at the Astroworld Festival in Houston, has decided to extend support to families impacted by the tragedy at rapper Travis Scott's Astroworld concert on Friday night.
The 23-year-old rapper announced on Instagram that he will be donating his earnings to victims of the mass casualty event.
"Please have the families of those who we lost yesterday reach out," the rapper wrote in his Instagram stories.
"I'll be donating my net compensation to the families of this incident. #Pray4Houston," he added.
As per People magazine, at least eight people died and dozens of others were injured in the chaos of Friday's event, according to city officials. The victims' ages range from 14 to 27.
On Saturday, the outlet confirmed that the youngest patient transported to a nearby hospital was aged 10. NBC News recently reported that the child is in critical condition.
John Hilgert, a freshman at Memorial High School in Houston, has been identified as the youngest victim to die at Astroworld at just 14 years old. School administrators confirmed his death in a letter to the community, obtained by ABC13.
"Our hearts go out to the student's family and to his friends and our staff at Memorial," MHS Principal Lisa Weir wrote, per the outlet. "This is a terrible loss, and the entire MHS family is grieving today."
The family of 16-year-old Brianna Rodriguez confirmed to People magazine that she is also one of the eight that died at the festival. Her family addressed her death on her GoFundMe page.
"Gone from our sites [sic], but never from our hearts," wrote her family. "It is with profound sadness we lay to rest our beloved Brianna Rodriguez. She was a beautiful vibrant 16-year-old high school junior at Heights HS in Houston TX. Dancing was her passion and now she's dancing her way to heaven's pearly gates."
Rudy Pena also died. His brother-in-law Sergio Gonzalez told People magazine all about his beloved family member.
"Of his 5 siblings, he was the most calm. He worked as a medical assistant at a rehab clinic. He played football in high school. He was always hanging out with his friends. He was the youngest of 5 siblings. He was the calmest, the most playful, he was the sweetest with everyone," Gonzalez shared.
Franco Patino, 21, has also been identified as a victim. His older brother Julio Patino, Jr. told the outlet that Franco was always looking out for others.
"My little brother, he had such a big heart. He's always going above and beyond and helping others," said Julio. "He was an organ donor. He wanted to help as many people as he could, and he did that to the very end."
In a statement shared Saturday on Twitter, Scott said he was "absolutely devastated" by the events that occurred at Astroworld. Later on Instagram, he told fans that he is "working right now to identify the families to assist them through this tough time."
Scott added, "My fans really mean the world to me, and I always want to leave them with a positive experience."