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Las Vegas’ memorial to victims of mass shootings should be completed before its 10th anniversary
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Las Vegas’ memorial to victims of mass shootings should be completed before its 10th anniversary

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Officials in Las Vegas vowed Monday to complete the action a lasting memorial to the victims and survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history on the tenth anniversary of the 2017 attack.

The announcement came a day before the seventh anniversary of the shooting that initially killed 58 people and injured hundreds of others when a gunman opened fire at a busy country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. In the following years, two more people died from their gunshot wounds.

Jan Jones-Blackhurst, president of the Vegas Strong Fund, the nonprofit responsible for fundraising for and building the monument, said at a news conference that the group hopes to gain ground at the site of the attack within six months .

A final design for the monument, that will contain 58 candle-like beamswas approved last September after planning was stalled for three years by the pandemic. The creators envision a park shaped like an infinity symbol in the northeast corner of the former concert venue, with 22,000 lights representing the number of people who attended the show that night.

A looping path leads visitors through a garden, past an 18-metre high glass tower and to a ‘ring of remembrance’ with the 58 candles. Each beam shows the name and a photo of a victim.

“To our victims, families, our survivors, we know you long for a space to lie down, to grieve, to pay respects to those you have lost, and to come together in community and share the good of the time you shared enjoying music together that fateful night before the shooting began,” said Brian Rogers, a paramedic who responded to the shooting and now serves on the board of the Vegas Strong Fund.

An alternative design that was approved would include 15 horse statues representing the home states and countries of the people killed, and two smaller horses for the dozens of children who lost their parents in the shooting.

Construction is expected to cost tens of millions of dollars, officials said. Clark County, which includes Las Vegas, donated $1 million.

The permanent memorial will be separate from one community healing garden built in downtown Las Vegas by more than 1,000 volunteers in the days after the shooting.