This year’s Hard Summer festival was supposed to be different. The venue for the popular EDM festival was moved from the Fairplex in Pomona to the Auto Club Speedway in Fontana after the deaths of two young women at last year’s event sparked changes in Los Angeles’ county rave rules (smaller capacity, 21+ and over). Sadly, tragedy continues to follow the controversial music festival wherever it goes. Derek Lee, 22, of San Francisco, and Alyssa Dominguez, 21, of San Diego, died early Sunday, according to the San Bernardino County coroner’s office. The second woman, Roxanne Ngo, 22, of Chino Hills, was pronounced dead Monday around 3 a.m. Although the deaths aren’t thought to be related, all three attended the two-day music festival which was headlined by Ice Cube, Porter Robinson, and Major Lazer, drawing a crowd of 147,000 people, making it the biggest Summer Hardfest yet.
Photo: Scott Dudelson(Getty Images)
Beverly Hills-based Live Nation Entertainment, the event’s promoter, issued a statement. “We were deeply saddened to learn about the deaths of three people who attended the festival this weekend,” Alexandra Greenberg, a spokeswoman for Hard Summer. “While the causes of the deaths have not yet been determined, we ask everyone to keep them in their prayers. Our sincerest thoughts and condolences are with their family and friends.”
Deaths at raves have become a health issue in Southern California with hundreds of drug-related arrests and multiple deaths occurring in the past couple years. While the causes of the latest deaths are pending, doctors, city officials and others have called for a ban on raves where drugs like ecstasy combined with dehydration and warm temperatures are a deadly mix that can cause severe organ failure, coma, and death.
