Lawyer for Astroworld victim's family says crowd trampled 21-year-old's body 'like a piece of trash'

• One of those killed in the Astroworld tragedy had his body trampled over "like a piece of trash," a lawyer said.
• Axel Acosta, 21, died as the crowd crush "squeezed" the air out of his lungs, attorney Tony Buzbee said.

One of the eight victims who died after a crowd surge at rapper Travis Scott's Astroworld music festival had his body "trampled" by other concertgoers "like a piece of trash," a lawyer representing his family said Monday.

Axel Acosta, 21, of Washington state was among the 50,000 fans at the sold-out Friday night concert at NRG Park in Houston when the chaos began during Scott's performance. He was crushed as a packed crowd surged toward the stage.

"When he collapsed, concertgoers trying to escape their own suffocation caused by the crowd rush trampled over his body like a piece of trash," Houston-based attorney Tony Buzbee, speaking alongside Acosta's family, told reporters.

In addition to those killed, hundreds were left injured.

"People involved in a crowd rush get carried by a river of people uncontrollably," Buzbee said at the press conference.

The lawyer continued, "Importantly, people that have been involved in crowd rush typically do not die from being trampled. They die from what is known as compressive asphyxiation from the sheer force of all the weight of the bodies being stacked on top of them - this is exactly what happened to Axel."

Buzbee said that "the air was literally slowly squeezed out of" Acosta, "sending his heart into cardiac arrest."

"Axel died on the muddy ground of a concert that he attended for fun," said Buzbee, adding, "Axel Acosta loved rap music and he loved the lineup that was going to be playing at Astroworld."

But, the attorney said, "that love and that feeling was not mutual."

Buzbee is representing Acosta's family along with at least 35 others whom he says will soon file a lawsuit against the organizers of the festival, including concert promoter Live Nation and Texas-based festival production company ScoreMore.

Neither Scott nor concert organizers "cared enough about Axel to make even a minimal effort to keep him and others at the concert safe," Buzbee said, adding, "I think it's self-evident that this concert was planned incredibly poorly, that no regard was given to the safety of the young people" who attended.

Houston's police chief said Monday that he spoke with Scott and concert organizers about his concerns for the crowd's safety.

In a statement to Insider, Live Nation said: "We continue to support and assist local authorities in their ongoing investigation so that both the fans who attended and their families can get the answers they want and deserve, and we will address all legal matters at the appropriate time."

ScoreMore did not respond to Insider's requests for comment earlier Monday.

In a statement posted online on Monday, ScoreMore said it was working with authorities as they investigate the deadly tragedy, adding that the company's "entire team is mourning alongside the community."

On Monday, Buzbee called Acosta's death "needless" and "unnecessary."

"Our goal is to make sure that this good, decent, solid, young man did not die for nothing," the attorney said.

Acosta's dad, Edgar Acosta, called his son "a great kid" who was studying to be an engineer or computer programmer.

"We're trying to change things" with the lawsuit, Edgar said. "Because today it's me. I lost my son. It could have been you."