A violent incident at the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, California, left a woman unconscious and sparked outrage after video footage of the attack circulated online.
The assault occurred Sunday night during a sold-out concert by the Australian electronic group Rüfüs Du Sol.
The video shows a man attacking several people before knocking a woman unconscious.
The victim, later identified as Shelby Elston, a mother of three from Phoenix, Arizona, said she lost consciousness and woke up in the venue’s medical tent.
In a Facebook post, Elston described the series of events leading up to the assault.
According to Elston, the confrontation began after her fiancé accidentally spilled his drink on another attendee.
That individual initially walked away but returned about 30 minutes later, shouting threats.
Elston said she stepped between the two men to calm the situation when the attacker turned on her.
The footage shows Elston being struck repeatedly.
She said the man knocked her into the bleachers, continued to punch her even after she was unconscious, and then went after others in her group.
“This man PUNCHED ME IN THE FACE! I was completely knocked out and there was blood pouring from my face,” Elston wrote in her account.
This isn’t my usual kind of content, but this behavior is abhorrent anywhere — much less at a show. A longtime follower was brutally attacked over an accidentally spilled drink this weekend during Rüfüs Du Sol at the Rose Bowl and needs help identifying this person.
If you… pic.twitter.com/taWKT2tctB
— Festive Owl (@TheFestiveOwl) August 18, 2025
She added that after the initial assault, the attacker also went after her fiancé and another friend.
Elston said she spent the remainder of the evening in the venue’s medical tent before safely returning to her hotel.
Pasadena police confirmed that a report has been filed. A spokesperson for the department said the suspect fled into the crowd and has not yet been located.
“We are aware of the videos. We will aggressively follow up on any leads. It is a pretty clear shot of the suspect, so I’m pretty confident we will identify the suspect,” said Lisa Derderian, public information officer for the city of Pasadena.
Derderian stated that the attack occurred before the concert officially began.
Paramedics temporarily closed an entry tunnel to reach the victim. She emphasized that the Rose Bowl maintains emergency personnel on-site for events and that the venue is generally considered safe.
“There were 60,000 people there. When you get that many people at any event, you definitely have incidents. I think this was more of a one-off,” she said.
Not all attendees agreed with that assessment.
One concertgoer described the scene differently, criticizing the event’s crowd management and security.
“Amazing set, horrible experience. The venue was very understaffed and we felt very unsafe. Aisles completely lined shoulder to shoulder with people, no way to get in or out,” the attendee said.
Rüfüs Du Sol also addressed the assault in a statement, expressing concern over the violence.
“Delivering moments for our fans to gather and celebrate safely is what we live for. We have been heart broken to hear of the act of violence that took place during the opening act on Saturday,” the band said in a statement released through Rolling Stone.
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Apparently, there were no men around to stop the woman beater. I will be 70 this year and I wouldn’t have stood around and watched.
What has become of men today???
First that a man would do this is unconscionable, but for other men to not only stand and watch it take place, but then to allow the attacker to just walk away. Have we as men been neutered so much that we no longer are capable of standing up for what is right. I’m 60 years old and disabled and don’t believe I could stand and watch something like that take place without intervening. I’m not sure which bothers me worse, that it happened or that not even one man stepped up.
DEMOCRAT
Guy should be tased repeatably in the genitals until he bleeds out of his ears
I see a whole lot of men standing around, watching him beat on this woman, a byproduct of the left’s war against traditional masculinity. This type of thing wouldn’t have happened a couple decades back, that man would have been confronted by a group of men.
Masculine traits and a man’s responsibility to protect the weak aren’t negative traits or toxic qualities of the patriarchy, they’re what prevents western society from becoming third world hellscapes.
Women need to stop berating men for being masculine, stop living in the delusion the sexes are equal and stop verbally & physically abusing men, before the era of might makes right literally beats them back to a time when women had no rights.
You think I’m joking, look at Europe. European women can’t even walk the streets without being verbally, physically or sexually assaulted by some third world migrant who doesn’t share western views/values regarding the sexes. And those women physically and verbally beat their men into submission, leaving no one to protect them.
What’s the real story?
Also, why didn’t the boyfriend do anything? Next time let your boyfriend fight his own battles. You took one for the team.