Travis Scott’s Attorneys Slam Officials for “Inconsistent Messages” on Astroworld Tragedy

Travis Scott’s lawyer claims that officials have conveyed “inconsistent messages” in the aftermath of the horrific Astroworld Festival tragedy.

Scott’s lawyer, Edwin F. McPherson, said in a statement to PEOPLE on Wednesday that city authorities have been “finger-pointing” and “sending inconsistent messages and backtracking from original statements” over Friday’s events.

“Houston Police Chief Troy Finner was quoted in the New York Times as saying ‘You cannot just close when you got 50,000 and over 50,000 individuals. We have to worry about rioting, riots when you have a group that’s that young,’ ” McPherson continued. “Yet, just a short time later, Chief Finner states the responsibility to stop the show falls on Travis.”

Finner stated at a press conference on Wednesday that local officials did not have the authority to stop Scott’s performance, even after the crowd situation got violent. “The ultimate authority to end the show is with the production and the entertainer,” he stated.

Later, the police chief said he didn’t want to “point fingers” until the inquiry was over.

McPherson said in his statement: “According to the Operations Plan, only the festival director and executive producers, neither of whom are members of Travis’s team, have the power to stop the show. This also contradicts HPD’s earlier measures, which included shutting down the electricity and sound at this particular festival in 2019 when the performance lasted more than 5 minutes.”