A couple looks over look over 58 wood crosses, with the names and photos of the Oct. 1 mass shooting victims, in the median of Las Vegas Boulevard South near the “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign Monday, Oct. 9, 2017.
Tuesday, Oct. 17, 2017 | 2 a.m.
A man who drove nearly 2,000 miles to Las Vegas from Illinois with wooden crosses for each one of the deceased in the mass shooting inadvertently included a cross for someone not killed in the attack.
Greg Zanis, with the help of Metro Police officers, laid the crosses behind the Welcome to Las Vegas sign on the south end of the Strip on Oct. 5 with the names of the deceased on each cross.
In the line of the 58 original names, the 34th cross bares the name of Michael Anderson, who was not included on the official list of deceased released by the Clark County Coroner’s Office.
Anderson also died Oct. 1 but was not among those killed in the massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Festival site. His time of death was at 6:10 p.m., about four hours before the shooting, according to the coroner’s office
Zanis took the names from an unofficial list which included people who died in Las Vegas that day.
“One of the news stations sent it out,” Zanis said. “It was just an accident. I was doing the best I could do.”
Anderson’s cross was left up until Oct. 11, when the county removed the cross from the memorial site.
“We received some complaints saying it was inappropriate for that cross to be there,” said Dan Kulin, Clark County spokesperson. “Our list of decedents never included him.”
The county has not had any contact with Anderson’s family during the time the cross was up or after its removal, Kulin said.
The removal of Anderson’s name also didn’t play a role in the official victim count dropping from 59, to 58 and the shooter, Kulin said.
With dozens of victims still hospitalized, and many of those in critical condition, Zanis said he left seven additional crosses behind, in the unfortunate case that another patient dies.
“I know it sounds terrible that I did that, but I want to make sure that they would be included," he said. “Especially because the memorial is only going to stay up for 40 days.”
The crosses will move to a permanent location at the Clark County Museum on Nov. 12.
The Sun reached out to the family of Anderson for comment but did not receive a response as of press time Tuesday afternoon.
