Temperatures were well above 100 degrees on Oct. 3 at Anderson Park, the location of the City of Carson Jazz Festival in California. Shari Sanders was in the crowd, waiting for headliner Shelia E. to take the stage.
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As PEOPLE reports, the concertgoer was saving seats for her family when she was found "not responsive." Someone in the audience performed CPR for 20 minutes before paramedics arrived, but Sanders died in the extreme heat. Her body was left covered in a blanket as the event continued.
Shelia stopped performing after the first song for a moment of silence. The 68-year-old singer of "The Glamorous Life" then dedicated the show to Sanders and her family. Shelia later spoke out about the incident.
Shelia E. Said She Would Have "Never" Gone on Stage if She Knew What Happened
Shelia posted a video on Instagram on Monday, Oct. 5, to talk about what happened at the jazz festival. She expressed her frustration with the City of Carson.
"I would have never, never gotten on stage if I would've known that her body was still sitting there with her family surrounding her," Shelia said. "Production, the city, the mayor was there... All of you guys should have stopped the festival. I'm sorry. You should've stopped the festival. This was uncalled for. It made me sick to my stomach when I heard later on that her body did not get taken until after we were off stage."
Shelia was in her dressing room when she and her band noticed "people running with emergency kits." They assumed eventgoers were dehydrated from the extreme heat. Eventually, Shelia learned what had happened to Sanders.
"We then saw paramedics, but this was like, 20 minutes later, and we asked, and that's when they told us later that she had passed," she said. "Then the music started a little while later, so we figured that everything was taken care of. We were all heartbroken."
She added, "Little did we know that after we were done performing, we went back to the dressing room, were then told around 5 p.m. they had just picked up her body. I am so sorry to the family... It just made us sick to our stomach knowing that she was still there. I didn't know, and I'm just sorry. I should not have played. Someone should have told me that she was still there."
The City of Carson Also Spoke Out
Shelia shared that she had been reaching out to Sanders' family to send her condolences. She also urged the City of Carson to "do better."
The mayor of Carson released a statement the day before Shelia posted her video.
"On behalf of the City, I extend our deepest condolences to the family, loved ones, and everyone affected by this tragedy," she wrote. "I have personally reached out and have spoken to the family during this painful time, and I ask our entire community to join me in keeping them in your prayers — surrounding them with strength, comfort, and peace during this unimaginable moment. At this moment, our first priority is compassion — supporting this grieving family and standing together as a community."
A spokesperson for the City of Carson said in a statement that the city is in the process of reaching out to Sanders' family. It is also coordinating grief and counseling resources for those affected by her death.
Sanders' daughter-in-law created a GoFundMe to help her family.
"Shari was the glue keeping this family together," it read. "She leaves behind 3 sons, 6 grandchildren, 2 bonus grandchildren, 2 brothers, a sister, nieces and nephews to whom she was like a mother too, her mother and father, and a host of cousins, friends, family and coworkers who loved her deeply."
