Beyoncé’s Atlanta concert ended in chaos as 11 fans were injured in a bizarre post-show incident involving a scream, a stampede, and a suspected cockroach. Just after midnight on July 15, concert-goers exiting the final night of the singer’s Cowboy Carter tour at Mercedes-Benz Stadium packed into the nearby Vine City MARTA station. That’s when panic broke out.
According to MARTA officials, a 10-year-old girl reportedly screamed after spotting a bug, possibly a cockroach, near the escalator. That scream allegedly triggered a stampede on the crowded moving escalator, which abruptly sped up before coming to a sudden halt. Passengers began toppling over one another, leading to injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to a broken ankle.
Footage from the scene shows a chaotic human pile-up, with bystanders rushing to help as the escalator surged then stopped. “It just created a whole entire slide full of people,” one attendee told local media. “People were just tumbling on each other.”
Though MARTA initially suspected a malfunction, escalator manufacturer Schindler later claimed the system was working as designed but had been overloaded beyond capacity. The escalator has since been barricaded pending further investigation.
Online, the incident quickly went viral. TikTok users shared videos of the fall and debated who, or what, was to blame. One video, claiming the screamer was a child frightened by a “Palmetto bug,” racked up thousands of views.
MARTA police and state officials are continuing to review footage and witness accounts, but for now, a simple bug has become the unlikely villain in a night meant to celebrate one of the world’s biggest stars.
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