MGM Resorts International has donated two acres of private land for a permanent memorial honoring victims and survivors of the Oct. 2017 mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival, Clark County Commissioner Jim Gibson announced during a press conference Monday. The plot of land is located at the northeast corner of Las Vegas Village, the MGM Resorts-owned outdoor concert venue which hosted the festival.
“Having a permanent memorial commemorating the victims and heroes of 1 October is vital to our community’s continued healing, and we are honored to donate a portion of the Village site to help bring that memorial to fruition,” MGM Resorts said in a statement provided to Billboard. “We look forward to supporting the committee as it proceeds with planning for the memorial.”
The 1 October Memorial Advisory Committee, a group comprised of seven citizens appointed to develop ideas and recommendations for the memorial, is currently soliciting input from the public on what “artistic, design, and educational features should be included” at the site. Responses will be accepted through Aug. 15.
In a previous survey conducted by the committee, 66% of respondents said it was “extremely important” or “very important” that the memorial be built at the site of the festival, according to Gibson.
The mass shooting, which ranks as the deadliest by an individual in modern U.S. history, occurred on Oct. 1, 2017, as 22,000 attendees gathered on the festival grounds located diagonally across from MGM’s Mandalay Bay Resort. The shooter killed 58 people and injured more than 850 after he opened fire from the window of a room located on the hotel’s 32nd story before taking his own life. Two more victims died months later from injuries suffered during the shooting.
Last September, Clark County District Court Judge Linda Bell approved a settlement agreement that saw MGM Resorts and its insurers agree to pay out $800 million to over 4,400 victims and their relatives. As part of the settlement, MGM Resorts acknowledged no liability for the tragedy.
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