By Akiya Dillon
Las Vegas Review-Journal
LAS VEGAS — Together, the 58 trees in the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden create a “breathing memorial,” said the mayor at a name-reading ceremony Tuesday that honored victims of the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting. All planted within a week of a massacre, their branches shrouded mourning friends and family members who clutched each others’ shoulders.
It’s been seven years since a lone gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival from his perch on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay. Fifty-eight died that night and in the days after. After two more people died from their injuries in 2019 and 2020, then-Sheriff Joe Lombardo announced that the official death toll would be raised to 60.
It remains the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history.
Starting at 10:05 p.m., the time the gunfire began that night, Mayor Carolyn Goodman and city communications director David Riggleman read the names of each of the 58 victims who lost their lives that night and, in the immediate aftermath, ringing the bell after each name.
Asked in an email why 58 names, and not 60, would not be read at the ceremony, city spokesperson Jace Radke responded with a statement that didn’t specifically address why the 59th and 60th victims’ names were not read.
“The Community Healing Garden is a place for everyone whose lives were touched by this terrible tragedy,” Radke said in the email. “Sadly, in the years since the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert, there have been those who have passed from complications to injuries they suffered at the event. The garden is for everyone. It is a place of beauty, peace and remembrance.”
The name-reading ceremony at the garden on South Casino Center Boulevard north of East Charleston Boulevardrounded off a day of memorial events on Tuesday. Earlier programming included the annual sunrise ceremony, a blood drive at City National Arena , and a human-chain vigil — exclusively for the victims’ families — at the Route 91 concert site on the Las Vegas Strip.
“We remember these individuals now and always,” Goodman said. “As the mayor of this city, I can assure you that their lives have become part of our Las Vegas soul.”
Rylie Upshaw, who survived the 2017 shooting, sat shoulder to shoulder with her parents, Rose and Rick Janice .
Upshaw lives in Pahrump now and works as a tattoo artist. She is hosting her own “Vegas Stronger” fundraiser this weekend. The event will feature piercings, raffles, and food, among other things, she said. All proceeds will be donated to the Playitforward Foundation, a nonprofit organization honoring Quinton Robbins, one of the shooting victims.
Rose said she was impressed by how the community came together after the tragedy.
“I remember we were still in the hospital with Rylie when they pulled this (garden) off,” Rose Janice said, placing a hand on her husband’s knee. “I think what they do here is beautiful. It is a great way for everyone to gather and remember those who lost their lives that night.”
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