2 Dead, 20 Hospitalized In D.C. After Mad Decent Block Party Tour Stop

The Washington D.C. edition of the 2014 Mad Decent Block Party tour ended tragically after two concert-goers died of drug overdoses. According to ABC News affiliate WMAR, Tyler Fox Viscardi, 20, from Raleigh, North Carolina, was pronounced dead on Friday night following the show. On Sunday night, a 17-year-old, who was also at the show, died of a drug overdose. Along with the two deaths, 20 attendees were hospitalized, 50 citations were given out for underage drinking and three people were arrested.

Mad Decent and Diplo took to Twitter to comment on the tragedy:

In addition to the comments made on Twitter, Seth Hurtwitz, who is the venue operator at the Merriweather Post Pavilion, released a statement regarding the alarming rate of drug use at shows:

Our hearts go out to the family as they face the unimaginable. As a parent, it makes me horribly sad beyond words to think of a tragedy like this. We can spend every minute of the day making perfect sense to our children regarding the obvious perils of drugs, but sometimes it is impossible to convince them that this is relevant to their world. Youth feel invulnerable. Some refuse to believe they could be affected.

This drug epidemic is no longer confined to specific demographics, or time of day, or geography, or lifestyle. It’s just everywhere and, and unfortunately, this generation of teens and 20-somethings has not learned this lesson yet. It’s just heartbreaking. This particular type of incident is not the problem of those who should have known better…it’s the problem of those too young to believe it could happen to them. Sadly we find ourselves in the classic position of trying to tell kids not to do something they think is fun.

As of now, no remaining dates on the tour have been cancelled.

[ABC News]