Rapper GloRilla has expressed hopes that “everybody is OK,” following reports of a serious incident at her concert in Rochester, New York.
The “Blessed” hitmaker’s real name is Gloria Hallelujah Woods. The 23-year-old performed at a sold-out concert held at the city’s Main Street Armory—with a main area that accommodates up to 5,000—on Sunday night. Finesse2Tymes was also on the bill.
Shortly after the concert, multiple tweets were shared alleging that there had been casualties after a series of incidents at the show. There were claims of an overdose, a stabbing, a crowd surge, and a number of attendees being transported to hospital.
Amid the speculation and unconfirmed allegations, Sam Carter, a reporter for local ABC affiliate WHAM-TV, posted a video on Twitter. In it, he urged social-media users “not to listen to the rumors,” though he showed footage of a sizable police presence.
In the seconds-long clip, Carter showed the “massive police presence [that] seems to be focused on the armory there. We don’t have a ton of information about what’s going on. There’s a lot of rumors. I would encourage everybody to not listen to rumors until we have things confirmed.”
Carter added that there were “at least 15, maybe 20 police cars here. And believe it not, this is an actual smaller scene than it was a little bit ago.”
GloRilla initially took to her Twitter account shortly after midnight EST to share photos of herself in her ensemble on the night and performing at the concert.
The hip-hop star returned to the social platform a few minutes later to express concern about the news and claims that had been filtered through social media.
“I’m just now hearing about what happened wtf,” GloRilla tweeted, alongside a trio of crying-face emojis. She added that she was “praying everybody is ok.”
A number of the musician’s fans commented under GloRilla’s post to ask what she was referring to, prompting a number of others to post allegations.
One Twitter user responded by uploading a harrowing video that they said showed the aftermath of a “crowd surge while exiting” the venue. According to the uploader of the clip, some people were “trampled, some suffocated.”
Alec Richardson of local CBS affiliate WROC-TV echoed some of the claims that had been made on social media when he shared a tweet of his own.
Alongside a photo that showed a heavy police presence and a cordoned-off area around the venue, Richardson shared eyewitness accounts, as well as his own.
“Major emergency response at the Main St Armory after a concert,” he wrote. “Had witnesses telling me at least three women were trampled as concertgoers left the venue. I also saw a firefighter performing cpr presumably on a victim on scene.”
Amid the ensuing conversation about what took place on the night, one Twitter user shared a photo of the inside of the venue during the show.
“This was inside tonight. Looks way over capacity,” they captioned the image. It was taken from upper stands and showed a dense crowd below.
A number of concertgoers took to Twitter to express their distress following the event.
“I’m so emotional leaving this concert,” wrote one. “Ppl [People] were literally getting trampled, ppl screaming that they can’t breath. like I literally can’t believe my experience.”
“I have never been trampled before,” another tweeted. “Rochester owe me a new leg.”
“I can’t believe what I’ve seen man,” another commented. “My little a** got tossed so bad. I was on the ground, couldn’t breathe. If it wasn’t for this guy I would prolly been out too. Man that was the scariest s*** ever.”
Newsweek has reached out to representatives of the Rochester Police Department and the Main Street Armory for comment.
Rapper GloRilla has expressed hopes that “everybody is OK,” following reports of a serious incident at her concert in Rochester, New York.
