Insect May Have Caused Stampede Following Beyoncé's Atlanta Concert

A woman dramatically reacting to an insect whitethorn person caused nan stampede that unfolded astatine an Atlanta metro position arsenic crowds were leaving Beyoncé’s concert.

Nine group were injured connected an escalator astatine nan Vine City Station conscionable aft midnight arsenic it was packed pinch BeyHive fans leaving nan Cowboy Carter performance astatine Mercedes-Benz stadium successful downtown Atlanta early Tuesday morning, nan Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority said.

One suffered a surgery ankle and 7 others were transported to a infirmary pinch cuts and scrapes. One personification declined infirmary transport, officials said.

MARTA constabulary astatine nan segment said they heard a shriek and a witnesses reported “the personification who screamed was reacting to an insect,” Stephany Fisher, MARTA’s Senior Director of Communications, said Friday.

“I judge there’s besides video connected TikTok of a female claiming it was a 10-year-old comparative who screamed erstwhile she saw a bug,” Fisher said. “Video from nan obstruction position intelligibly shows group reacting and running, but you can’t spot who screamed aliases what they were reacting to.”

MARTA constabulary main Scott Kreher besides said nan chaos was caused by a woman who saw a cockroach aliases a “palmetto bug,” NBC connection WXIA of Atlanta reported.

In nan ordeal group began screaming and a stampede unfolded connected nan escalator, causing it to temporarily velocity up past abruptly stop.

“There was personification who started to shriek extracurricular of nan station. She was startled by a bug outside, extracurricular nan ample crowd,” acting CEO Rhonda Allen told nan MARTA committee connected Thursday, WXIA reported.

Allen explained that nan escalator had passed an inspection days earlier, but nan weight and activity of a crowd of group abruptly fleeing caused it to velocity up past abruptly stop.

“Imagine a group of group saying, ‘I want to get down I want to get down,’ began to usher themselves down nan escalator,” Allen continued.

She said nan transit authority successful nan early will adhd unit to negociate nan travel of passengers onto escalators.