The permanent memorial to the victims and survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history will feature 58 candle-like beams under a plan that officials in Las Vegas approved Tuesday. With the design officially in place, Clark County commissioners will shift their focus to selecting a nonprofit that will oversee fundraising and the construction and maintenance of the project, reports the AP. It took years to get to this point in the process and could take years more before the memorial is unveiled at the site of the attack along the Las Vegas Strip.
The commissioners voted unanimously to proceed with the design recommended by the 1 October Memorial Committee, which was formed in 2019 to develop a design concept. The committee, which was dissolved Tuesday after commissioners voted, included a survivor and the sister of one of the 60 people who were killed in the October 2017 shooting. The number 58 in the final design represents the initial toll of people who were killed when a gunman opened fire from a 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay hotel on a country music festival crowd below. In addition to those who died at the scene or shortly after the attack, hundreds of people were injured, including two women who initially survived but died in subsequent years from causes attributed to their gunshot wounds.
The final memorial design is the work of local firm JCJ Architecture. It envisions a park shaped like an infinity symbol in what was the northeastern corner of the former concert venue, with 22,000 lights representing the number of people who attended the show that night. A looping path will take visitors through a garden area, past a 58-foot glass tower and to a "remembrance ring" with the 58 candles. Each beam will display the name and a photo of a victim. Mynda Smith, whose sister Neysa Tonks was killed in the attack, said Tuesday that she was grateful to be a part of the memorial committee. "I never thought that this journey could be filled with so much light," Smith said.
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Tonks, a 46-year-old mother of three, had called Las Vegas home for about two decades. "She loved this city," Smith said. "I know that she's going to be honored, along with the 57 others who died that night, in such a beautiful way that will bring light to our families. And I know it will bring light to all the survivors." But Amber Manka, whose mother died two years after she was shot and paralyzed in the attack, said she finds the final design to be both beautiful and disappointing as her mother is not one of the 58; she has sent a message to the committee outlining her concerns.
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