Crypta, a Brazilian death metal band, had just finished a set at an Illinois theater on Friday when the venue made an announcement: the show would be interrupted for half an hour due to dangerous weather outside.
A few minutes later the roof collapsed.
“At first I was confused because it felt like an earthquake, and I thought, ‘Why would there be an earthquake now?'” said Chris Bryant, 39, an audience member at the concert who narrowly escaped injury at the Apollo Theater in Belvidere, Ill.
“As soon as that happened,” he added, “I watched the whole roof collapse on everyone, basically right where we were standing.”
At least one person was killed and at least 28 others hospitalized after the “complete roof collapse” at the Apollo, Shawn Schadle, the city’s fire chief, said Friday night, adding that five people had serious injuries.
It could have been much worse. Chief Schadle said 260 people had been in the building; that the awning had also collapsed; and that emergency responders in the area had dealt with an electrical fire behind the venue, several gas leaks, and an elevator rescue around the same time.
“Many, many ambulances,” he said told reporters at the scene as flashing red lights from nearby fire trucks bounced off his uniform. “Many, many respondents.”
Chief Schadle said everyone at the site had been accounted for and emergency responders were “examining stabilization of the building.” The Apollo has hosted a range of musical performances including vaudeville and mariachisince the 1920s.
The roof collapses Belvederea city of about 25,000 that is less than 90 miles from both Chicago and Milwaukee was one of several weather-related fatalities in the American South and Midwest on Friday.
A deadly storm system erupted ferocious tornadoes that killed at least three people in Arkansas and two in Indiana, leaving at least 30 people injured in the town of Little Rock, Ark., alone.
At the end of the day, more than 16 million people from Texas to Michigan were under tornado surveillance. In Arkansas, Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ office said it planned to survey the tornado damage on Saturday.
Belvidere is in an area of strong wind gusts on Friday night, and Illinois was one of the Midwestern, Mid-Atlantic, and Northeastern states where residents under high wind warnings as dawn approached on Saturday. But it wasn’t immediately clear whether a tornado or just bad weather caused the roof to collapse. The National Weather Service said only that the Apollo suffered”possible tornado damage.”
Whatever the cause, the collapse was so unexpected that some onlookers were “walking around dazed, not knowing what to do,” said Mr. Bryant, who works in the information technology industry and lives in nearby Algonquin, Illinois.
“I stood there for probably 10 seconds before I realized there were a lot of people under the roof,” he said.
Footage circulating on social media appeared to show concertgoers trying to find people under the rubble in the venue. Mr Bryant said he helped free about five people, and later told firefighters which casualties should be prioritised.
“A few minutes later I saw the man I was standing next to during the concert,” he added. “They had a sheet over him.”
The crowd had come to watch Crypt And three other metal bands: Revocation, skeletal remains and morbid angel. They are touring the country this spring as part of a tour called “The United States of Terror.”
None of the musicians were immediately available for comment after the disaster, except for Crypta said on Instagram that they were all safe.
Morbid Angelthe headlining act from Florida, said in a Facebook post that the members were still sheltering in place at the location. “Right now, our focus is making sure everyone in the room is okay tonight and going home,” the band said.
As for Mr. Bryant, he was still processing what had happened.
“The man I was standing next to is dead, and I’m sitting at home, comfortably on my couch,” he said on the phone. “So it’s definitely surreal.”
Emily Cochrane reporting contributed.