Injuries reported in stampede at Hollywood rap event

Highland Avenue between Franklin Avenue and Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood was open Tuesday morning, hours after ten people were treated at the scene of a stampede at a crowded rap event at the Hollywood & Highland complex, with eight of them transported to a hospital with non-life
threatening injuries, authorities said.

The stampede occurred at a meet-and-greet Monday night for the rapper Phora at the Shoe Palace store.

"The love tonight was real. Over 6,000 people showed up in LA. We bought hundreds of shoes for people. And ended up getting shut down,'' Phora tweeted. ``I appreciate the love, thank you to the fans. Forever owe it to you.''

Security at the event called for police to respond about 9:15 p.m. Monday and at some point a stampede among attendees left several people injured, according to Los Angeles police Officer Mike Lopez.

There were unconfirmed reports that a fight had broken out, but Lopez was unsure why police were called.

"Basically he came out and got on top of a car and everybody just came out and had like a mosh pit or something,'' fan Anthony Morales told local media.

"Everybody went crazy. I saw three people just pass out."

On Twitter, Phora downplayed reports of any violence, saying a female had passed out, but she was OK.

Neither Phora nor any firefighters sustained injuries, according to Brian Humphrey of the Los Angeles Fire Department.

No arrests were reported, Lopez said.

Phora, whose real name is Marco Anthony Archer, is from Anaheim and is scheduled to go on tour next week.