Clark County to ask Sandoval to lead Oct. 1 memorial effort
Nevada’s highest-ranking elected official could play a major role in how the state pays tribute to the victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The Clark County Commission on Tuesday agreed to ask Gov. Brian Sandoval to chair a committee to design, fund and build a memorial to the victims of the Oct. 1 attack on the Las Vegas Strip.
Fifty-eight people were killed and hundreds were injured when a gunman opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest festival from a Mandalay Bay suite.
“He’s a very sensitive, compassionate individual. He listens to all sides,” said Commissioner Steve Sisolak, who suggested Sandoval. “He has a calmness about him that I think would be significant toward working to create something like this.”
Sisolak said he put in a call to Sandoval’s office after the meeting but had not heard back as of Tuesday afternoon.
Other commissioners supported the idea, saying the governor’s leadership would be conducive to a community-based approach to creating the memorial.
“There’s so many different constituencies involved in Oct. 1 that it can’t be perceived as the county or the city or one group,” Commissioner Larry Brown said. “He is the leader of the state of the Nevada, and it’s appropriate that he be the one to move this effort forward.”
County Chief Administrative Officer Les Lee Shell said she researched how memorials were created following mass casualty events elsewhere in the country and that commissioners should be prepared for “a long process.”
“Some of them took five years,” she said. “Some of them took 10 years.”
Contact Michael Scott Davidson at sdavidson@reviewjournal.com or 702-477-3861. Follow @davidsonlvrj on Twitter.
