Nine-year-old festival victim in coma with brain swelling

Young Ezra Blount was reportedly on his father’s shoulders in the audience when a massive crowd crush erupted, killing eight people and injuring hundreds more in the ensuing chaos.

“My son had Ezra on his shoulders at the concert and my son couldn’t breathe because of all the pressure that was being applied to him and he passed out,” Ezra’s grandfather told KTRK-TV of the child, theNew York Post reports.

“And when he passed out, Ezra fell into the crowd. He was trampled really bad.”

When Ezra’s dad, whose name wasn’t disclosed, awoke in the concert venue’s medical station his son had already been taken to the hospital in cardiac arrest, the station reported.

The hospital booked the child as a “John Doe,” the family told the station. He’s now in a coma, according to family.

“How could this happen in the city of Houston?” the child’s shaken grandfather told the station.

“When we go to concerts and different events, we expect safety and security. All the videos I’ve seen, I didn’t see any security – I saw very little security.”

The child has damage to his kidney, lungs, and heart and is suffering from brain swelling, his grandfather said.

“He’s a small innocent child — he didn’t deserve that, he didn’t deserve that at all,” the grandfather, who didn’t disclose his name, told the station in an on-camera interview.

He said the family is praying for a miracle for Ezra and seeking accountability.

“I’ve seen apologies online that didn’t look sincere from people who participated in that event,” he said, though he didn’t mention Scott or any organisers by name.

“If you feel so bad why aren’t you down here at the hospital checking on your fans?”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and is reproduced here with permission

Originally published as Nine-year-old boy trampled at Astroworld remains in coma with brain swelling