Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Debris litters the festival grounds across the street from Mandalay Bay, Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, following a mass shooting in Las Vegas. MGM Resorts International, which owns the site, said it is donating part of the property for a permanent memorial.
Published Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 | 4:06 p.m.
Updated Monday, Aug. 2, 2021 | 5:36 p.m.
It’s still not entirely clear what the memorial for the shooting victims of the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre will look like, but now the committee working on it knows where it’ll be located.
Clark County today announced that MGM Resorts International was donating 2 acres in the northeast corner of the fairgrounds on the Strip where the shooting, which so far has taken 60 lives, took place nearly four years ago during the Route 91 Harvest festival.
The concert site has remained idle since the massacre.
Additionally, officials are making a push to receive input from people everywhere, who found themselves affected by the tragedy, including survivors, first responders and loved ones of the victims.
“Whether you live in Las Vegas or California (where most of the victims lived) or in a foreign land, the effect of all this has registered itself in your heart to the extent that you are affected,” Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson said in a news conference.
Anyone interested in providing input can visit a new survey that went live today, and runs through Aug. 15.
Earlier surveys and focus groups so far showed that the majority of participants wanted the memorial to be placed at the shooting site (66%) and that education needed to be incorporated (73%), such as biographies of those killed, and stories of survival and heroism, leaving out any “political” messaging or mention of the killer, who took his own life after the onslaught that left hundreds more wounded.
The recent survey will focus on artistic design preferences and the educational features those questioned prefer, officials said.
The future memorial, which will be next to the Shrine of the Most Holy Redeemer, a Roman Catholic church that became a refuge for victims, will be separate from a Community Healing Garden in downtown Las Vegas that was created following the shooting.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
