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SXSW organisers comment on crash incident as Dutch music industry exec confirmed as one of the fatalities

By | Published on Friday 14 March 2014

SXSW

Organisers of the South By Southwest festival shared their shock yesterday at the incident that occurred outside one of their venues in Austin, Texas on Wednesday night in which an allegedly drunk driver crashed through a barrier and drove into a crowd of pedestrians, many of them festival-goers. As previously reported, two people died after being hit by the motorist, while over 20 more were injured.

Speaking at a press conference yesterday, SXSW MD Roland Swenson confirmed that, despite the shock and obvious sympathies for those directly affected by the incident, it had been decided the show must go on. According to Billboard he told reporters: “As much as we want to go home and absorb the shock of this event … we feel we have an obligation to the people who have travelled here from all over the world”.

Organisers liaised with the venues near the scene of the incident regarding their wishes for events planned for yesterday. An afternoon showcase due to take place at one of those venues, The Mohawk, was cancelled, though evening shows were set to go ahead as planned.

The driver involved in the incident has been named as Rashad Charjuan Owens, with local media reports suggesting he will now likely face charges of capital murder and aggravated assault with a motor vehicle as a result of his actions. Also speaking at the press conference, Austin Police Chief Art Acevedo said “this is a selfish individual with no regard for other people”.

As the thousands of artists and music industry people in Austin for SXSW came to terms with Wednesday night’s events, Dutch company MassiveMusic announced the sad news that one of the people killed was its Creative Director Steven Craenmehr. He died after Owens crashed into a bike he was riding.

The music firm posted an announcement on its website yesterday confirming the news. It reads: “It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden passing of our close friend and colleague Steven Craenmehr, 35, on 13 Mar 2014 at SXSW. During the eight years that Steven worked for MassiveMusic, we got to know him as an unstoppable force, full of life, love and laughter. This is an irreplaceable loss for the MassiveMusic family and we are grateful for the years we spent with him. Our thoughts are with Steven’s family and friends”.

While it was originally thought the two people who were killed in the incident had been together, that’s seemingly not the case, the other fatality reportedly a local woman who was knocked off her moped.



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