City cancelled final day of Electric Zoo Dance Music Festival on Randall’s Island following the deaths of two concertgoers.
Both deaths were caused by apparent overdoses. It’s the fifth year of the festival and was scheduled to conclude Sunday but show was canceled after two attendees died over the first two days of the festival. The apparent overdoses were cause by the popular drug MDMA nicknamed Molly, an illegal drug combined with other chemicals in Ecstasy pills, officials said.
Victims of the overdose were Jeffrey Russ, 23, of Rochester and Olivia Rotondo, 20, of Providence, R.I. Rotondo, a student at the University of New Hampshire, posted a final message on twitter reading, “The amount of traveling I’ve done today is unreal. Just get me to the damn zoo.”
The NY Daily News reported that at least another four Festival attendees are being treated for apparent overdoses and are in intensive care units at local Hospitals.
Tickets to Sunday’s shows were going for $179. Festival leaders posted on their website, ”The founders of Electric Zoo send our deepest condolences to the families of the two people who passed away this weekend. Because there is nothing more important to us than our patrons, we have decided in consultation with the New York City Parks Department that there will be no show today.”