Dad left 9-year-old with strangers at Olivia Rodrigo show in Phoenix, social media posts say

An attendee at the Olivia Rodrigo concert Saturday night said she was "taken aback" after a man she didn't know left his 9-year-old daughter with her at the Footprint Center performance in downtown Phoenix.

According to a thread of posts written by the attendee to X, formerly known as Twitter, a father approached the attendee and her friend and asked them to escort his daughter to her seat. The attendee, who described herself and her friend to be two women in their early twenties, claimed the father did not introduce himself, nor did he exchange any contact information.

Despite the daughter's tearful protests, the father assured the daughter she was "independent" and that he would be in the car napping until after the show, according to the posts to X.

The user did not respond to The Arizona Republic's requests for comment.

According to the thread, the father did not want to sit through the concert and needed someone to walk his daughter to her seat. While his daughter was begging him not to leave, he told her, "you'll be fine."

The X user said the girl was "visibly distraught" but the father was "very pushy."

The first post was made at 7:27 p.m. just minutes before singer-songwriter Chappell Roan was scheduled to open the show.

Following the show, the attendee posted at 12:37 a.m. Sunday with an update saying the father claimed he could see his daughter's location on Life360, a social network app for families wanting to locate each other.

The two young women tried to comfort the girl by asking her about her favorite Olivia Rodrigo and Taylor Swift songs, but she was reluctant to talk, the X user posted. Eventually, the daughter told the attendees her first name, age and favorite songs.

The attendee provided more details in a follow-up post at 10:27 a.m. Sunday after seeing the original post gain traction and receive concern.

The X user posted that the father told the two women he bought his daughter a last-minute ticket to the show, and had taken her to another music festival the night prior. According to the post, the father said he "had enough."

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The two women took the girl past the gate and alerted the venue staff of the situation after the dad had left. The staff gave the women directions to the girl's seat and told them someone would keep an eye on her, according to the post.

The Footprint Center official policy on lost children details, "Children or parents should contact the nearest Footprint Center staff member if they become separated. Lost children will be taken to the Guest Services Office located in the pavilion, in the Northwest corner of the building. Parents looking for a lost child should go to that location as well."

A spokesperson for the Footprint Center could not be reached on Sunday evening. The official policy on the Footprint Center's website did not state how old a child must be to attend the concert alone.

According to the X user, the two women offered the girl merch, brought her water and gave her their names and phone numbers before taking her to her seat a few sections up from their own. They told her to contact them if she got lost or didn't want to be alone, and offered to meet her at her seat after the show.

When the show was over, the women waited but did not hear from the girl.

Reflecting on the incident, the attendee posted, "we are both young women in our early 20s with very little childcare experience" and that they did not want to "overstep."

The user posted that she regretted not asking for both parent's numbers and not "being more assertive and proactive."

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Dad left 9-year-old at Olivia Rodrigo show in Phoenix, posts on X say