Publish Date: September 30, 2024, 05:07h.
Last Updated: September 30, 2024, 05:07h.
A memorial to honor the victims and survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history is set to be completed by the 10th anniversary of the October 1, 2017 attack, according to officials in Las Vegas.
The announcement was made ahead of the seventh anniversary of the shooting, where lone gunman Stephen Paddock shot 58 individuals to death from his Mandalay Bay hotel suite during the Route 91 Harvest music festival. Two additional victims succumbed to their injuries in the following years.
The Vegas Strong Fund nonprofit has indicated that construction on the memorial will commence within the next six months. The memorial will be located on the northeastern corner of the former concert grounds known as Las Vegas Village.
The approved design of the memorial includes 58 large candle structures, each showcasing the name and photo of a victim. Additionally, it will incorporate 22,000 lights, symbolizing each concert attendee that fateful night. Visitors will be guided through a garden and a 58-foot glass tower leading to the candles.
Officials estimate the construction costs to be in the tens of millions of dollars, with Clark County contributing $1 million towards the project.
Unspeakable Loss
On October 1, 2017, for over 10 minutes starting at 10:05 p.m., Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest music festival from his room at Mandalay Bay. The incident concluded when Paddock, 64, took his own life with a revolver.
The attack was meticulously planned, and while the motive remains unknown according to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the FBI documents released last year suggested that Paddock, a professional gambler, was disgruntled about the reduction in perks offered by casinos to high-rollers like him.
In 2020, MGM settled a class action lawsuit from 4,000 survivors and victims’ families for $800 million. Two years later, North Dakota’s Three Affiliated Tribes purchased 13 of the 15 acres of the original Las Vegas Village festival grounds for $90 million.