1 October - Seven Years Later
May we never forget
It doesn’t seem that long ago. Seven years ago today, Las Vegas became the site of the deadliest mass shooting by a lone gunman in American history. Known as the 1 October Massacre. Ultimately, 60 innocent people lost their lives, and hundreds were injured.
It happened at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival in the newly created Las Vegas Village, a 15-acre outdoor performance area on the Las Vegas Strip, across from the Luxor and Mandalay Bay.
FYI: What we now call the Strip or the Las Vegas Boulevard was once Route 91, or the L. A. Highway, before the creation of Interstate 15.
Where Are We Now
The Las Vegas Village was cleared and has never been used since. Recently, landowner MGM sold the land to the Three Affiliated Tribes of Central North Dakota. Before closing the sale, MGM cut out two acres to donate to the 1 October Memorial.
Today, on the seventh anniversary of the tragedy, they broke ground at the site of the planned memorial.
Getting it Right
This is an essential project for the Las Vegas community and the world who grieved with us, so it's essential to get it right. Thanks to MGM, we have the land (yes, I actually said something nice about MGM), and it's where it needs to be.
The closest thing we currently have as a memorial is the "Healing Garden," which is four miles away, near downtown Las Vegas.
Some demanded that they need to make the entire site a memorial. Thankfully, that didn’t happen. You don't need a whole block to memorialize all who died because of the massacre or explain how it impacted the people and the city.
Unfortunately, the memorial is set to honor only the original 58 victims—the people who died on site. Many believe two other people need to be included and are being left out because they died from their injuries at a later date.
Apparently, there is some unofficial death clock for massacre victims to be memorialized. You aren't counted if you die after that allotted time and place. Thats wrong. Let's do the honorable thing. That is not right. Count all sixty victims.
They need $10 million to complete the project and plan to open the memorial on its tenth anniversary.
Want to know more? Here is their website: Foreveronememorial.org