OKEECHOBEE, Fla. – Friends and family members are looking for answers after a man from Baton Rouge died at a popular music festival over the weekend.
The Okeechobee County Sheriff’s Office confirmed to WBRZ that investigators were looking into the apparent drowning, which happened sometime between late Friday night and early Saturday morning at the Okeechobee Music & Arts Festival. Those close to the situation identified the victim as Steven Nguyen, 26.
The three-day festival attracts tens of thousands of attendees every year and typically lands several high-profile musical acts. This year’s lineup included performers like Earth, Wind & Fire, Baby Keem, Lil Yachty and Excision.
Nguyen’s friends and family in Louisiana took to social media in the days following his death, furious that festival organizers and promoter Insomniac Events had not commented on what happened. Those who knew Nguyen said they first heard about it through another attendee and that they still know very little about how he died.
The festival’s remaining acts seemingly went on as planned the rest of the weekend.
It’s an Aquachobee Beach party all weekend long!??????#OMF23 pic.twitter.com/vuBWXZpvhX
— Okeechobee (@okeechobeefest) March 5, 2023
On Wednesday, roughly a day after WBRZ reported on the situation, the music festival released a statement for the first time acknowledging that someone died at the event.
The sheriff’s office said Tuesday that an autopsy was planned and that an investigation into what happened is ongoing.
Those close to Nguyen have set up a GoFundMe page to help support his family.
Leave a Reply