False fears of a shooting at a rap concert in Rochester, New York, sent a crowd surging toward the exits, killing one person and injuring eight others, police said.
Police found “no evidence to support a shooting having occurred" inside the concert late Sunday featuring rappers GloRilla and Finesse2tymes at the Main Street Armory, Rochester police Lt. Nicholas Adams said in a statement. A 33-year-old woman died and two people were in critical condition, the department said.
Police officials were expected to brief the media on the stampede Monday morning.
Six additional people were dropped off by private vehicle at hospitals with injuries that were not considered life-threatening, the Democrat & Chronicle newspaper reported.
Officers responded around 11 p.m. to initial reports of gunshots fired inside, Adams said, but later determined injuries weren't consistent with gunshot wounds.
“The injuries appear to be as a result of a large crowd pushing towards the exits following accounts of individuals hearing what they believed to be gunshots," Adams said.
GloRilla, a Memphis native whose 2022 song “F.N.F. (Let’s Go)” with Hitkidd was nominated for a Grammy for best rap performance, tweeted that she was “praying everybody is ok.”
Fatal crowd surges have been a recurring disaster at concerts and other large events in the U.S. and around the world, including a 2021 concert by rapper Travis Scott in which 10 people died.
