The death toll from a recent concert in Rochester, NY, featuring rappers GloRilla and Finesse2tymes has risen.
Hours after it was reported that a woman had been killed after sustaining injuries from the crowd influx, the Associated Press reported Monday evening that another concertgoer has died.
When the show ended just after 11 p.m. at Rochester’s Main Street Armory, false fears of a shooting forced those in attendance to scramble for the exits. A 33-year-old woman, Rhondesia Belton, was killed and nine others injured, Rochester police said in a news conference Monday, according to the Associated Press.
The AP also reported that police announced the death of a 35-year-old woman late Monday, and her name was not released.
Police Chief David M. Smith said authorities “do not have any evidence that gunshots were fired or that anyone was shot or stabbed at the scene.”
“What started last night as a night of live music and fun for artist GloRilla ended in tragedy with one dead and two more fighting for their lives,” he said.
“I’m only now hearing what happened,” says Grammy-nominated GloRilla tweeted late Sunday. “Praying that everyone is okay.”
When police entered the venue, they found three women with critical injuries. The 33-year-old died in a hospital and the other two were in critical condition, police said. Seven others were taken to hospitals and treated for injuries that were not life-threatening, Smith said.
Mayor Malik D. Evans called the fatal stampede “a tragedy of epic proportions” and promised that a thorough investigation would “hold people to account.”
Several possible causes for the deadly wave, including “crowd size, shots fired, pepper spray and other contributing factors,” are being investigated, police said.
Memphis rapper GloRilla, 23, was nominated this year for a Grammy Award for Rap Performance for her song “FNF (Let’s Go)” featuring Hitkidd. She also performed in the all-star hip-hop tribute at the awards show last month.
The deaths from Sunday’s GloRilla show are the latest in crowd-surveyed fatalities at high-profile events. Ten people died during Travis Scott’s annual AstroWorld festival in Houston in 2021 and at the end of October more than 150 people died during a crowd at a Halloween party in Seoul.
Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.
