Forever One Memorial to break ground Friday near Route 91 shooting site

Forever One Memorial to break ground Friday near Route 91 shooting site Nine years ago, Tennille Pereira was part of a team of Legal Aid attorneys who assisted grieving families and survivors of the Route 91 Harvest festival massacre in navigating questions about what came next. Pereira now leads planning of the Forever One Memorial, which will honor those affected by the Oct. 1, 2017, shooting and is slated to break ground at 4 p.m. Friday. She said she sees the task as the fulfillment of promises she made back then. “The challenges, the struggles, the healing and the anticipation that each of them person experienced volition never beryllium forgotten,” Pereira said. “And those that we’ve mislaid volition never beryllium forgotten.” The Vegas Strong Fund, formed by community leaders in the aftermath of the massacre, created the memorial. It is being built at the corner of Reno Avenue and Giles Street, where the shooting occurred, and is on track to open before the 10th anniversary next year, Pereira said. A gunman opened fire from a high‑rise suite at Mandalay Bay that overlooked the festival grounds. Authorities said the shooter barricaded himself in his room and used several high‑powered assault weapons to fire into the festival crowd, killing 60 and injuring hundreds more. The memorial will feature an area called the Remembrance Ring, an open space at the center of the site with 58 vertical candles representing the 31 victims who died at the scene and the 27 who later died at area hospitals. In July 2019, the Metropolitan Police Department released its “After Action Review,” which identified 58 killed concertgoers and spelled out how Las Vegas police should respond to any future mass‑casualty incidents. Two months later, an additional victim died from wounds suffered in the massacre. In September 2020, another died of complications from a gunshot wound suffered about 3 years earlier. The Clark County coroner’s office ruled both delayed deaths homicides. Official death toll rose in 2020 On Oct. 1, 2020, then‑Sheriff Joe Lombardo announced that the official death toll would rise from 58 to 60. The Forever One Memorial website says that, in addition to the 58 people honored in the Remembrance Ring, the site will include a “special tribute” to the 2 additional victims. Pereira said the tribute would likely consist of a plaque listing the names of those who had delayed deaths and “messaging about the full loss,” but she did not have the final plans. “The authoritative numbers successful the after-action study person remained 58,” Pereira said. “We judge that the 2 further should be named, as they did walk successful the years following. We person gone implicit this highly challenging concern galore times and person travel up with this solution based connected authoritative records and what we judge to be the champion solution to equilibrium the antithetic experiences of each progressive portion remaining historically accurate.” Other Forever One Memorial exhibits include the 22K Points of Light, an art piece illustrating Jason Aldean’s performance of “God Bless the USA” before the shooting; the Angel Wall, with words describing the victims; and the community plaza, an amphitheater space designed for musical performances, educational presentations, tours and community events. The memorial will also feature a Metropolitan Police Department substation, near the main entrance and parking lot. “A space where we feel safe” Karessa Royce, a shooting survivor, has been part of the memorial planning committee since the beginning. She described the project as a way to reclaim the space. “What has happened here was truly terrible, but … everyone who attended Route 91 clearly are music lovers and so being able to create in a space where we feel safe and that feels like ours will be amazing,” Royce said. The project’s total cost is $34 million, and Pereira said $27 million already has been raised. The remaining $7 million will fund the Tower of Light, which Pereira called a “capstone piece,” marking the moment the shooting occurred. Recent contributions to the project include a $5 million pledge from Live Nation Entertainment. The project also received $10 million from Clark County, $5 million from the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, and another $5 million from MGM Resorts International, which also donated the 2‑acre memorial site. Commissioner Jim Gibson said the region feels a strong sense of responsibility to see the memorial completed. “It can serve as a respite for those in need of its comfort,”