ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A third woman who was severely injured when a large crowd rushed out of a rap concert in Rochester, New York, has died, Rochester police said Thursday.
All three women were trampled as the crowd was leaving Rochester’s Main Street Armory following a GloRilla concert on Sunday night. Two women — Rhondesia Belton, 33, of Buffal, New York, and Brandy Miller, 35, of Rochester — both died on Monday.
Police identified the third victim as Aisha Stephens, 35, of Syracuse. She died from her injuries on Wednesday, said Lt. Greg Bello of the Rochester Police Department.
The incident occurred just after 11 p.m. Sunday, as people were exiting the Armory following a concert featuring Memphis rappers GloRilla and Finesse2tymes. Following the stampede, seven additional people were treated at area hospitals for injuries that were not life-threatening.
Crowd surges at large events in the U.S. and around the world have turned deadly before. In 2021, 10 people died in an overflow crowd of 50,000 people at a concert by rapper Travis Scott.
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Police investigate fatal crowd surge, venue shut down indefinitely
Rochester Police Chief David Smith on Monday said the injuries appeared to be the result of a crowd pushing toward the exits Sunday night after they thought they heard gunshots.
While there was no evidence of gunfire, Smith on Monday said police are investigating several possible causes of the fatal surge, including “possibly crowd size, shots fired, pepper spray and other contributing factors.” He did not share further details on how the investigation progressed this week.
City officials on Wednesday shut down the venue indefinitely, by denying Armory’s entertainment license renewal, which has been posted at the venue. This means the Main Street Armory cannot host any public entertainment “pending a complete and thorough review of this matter,” Smith said Wednesday.
Rochester Mayor Malik Evans called the fatal stampede “totally unacceptable” and promised a thorough investigation into whether the venue’s operators had the necessary safety measures in place for a large crowd. According to city officials, the main arena at the venue has a capacity of about 5,000 people.
GloRilla, whose 2022 song “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd was nominated for a Grammy for best rap performance, tweeted that she is “devastated and heartbroken” that women died after her Sunday show. She said she is “praying for their families and for a speedy recovery of everyone affected.”
Contributing: The Associated Press