1 October committee honors Texas victims

The sister of a Route 91 shooting victim silently shed a tear during a moment of silence Wednesday at the Clark County Government Center.

Mynda Smith, whose sister Neysa Tonks was among the 60 who died in the Las Vegas massacre, serves as one of seven members of the 1 October Memorial Committee, which honored the 21 people fatally shot at an elementary school in Texas a day earlier.

“I want to take a minute to recognize the most recent tragedies in the past two-and-a-half weeks, and in particular the one yesterday in Texas,” Tennille Pereira, chairperson of the committee and director of the Vegas Strong Resiliency Center said during Wednesday’s meeting. “I would like to dedicate this moment of silence not only to all those in our community who have suffered loss as a result of a mass shooting but also too those in Texas who are now facing a path that we all know too well.”

The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center plans to schedule support sessions online and in person for those in need, and the center’s director encouraged those affected by the Texas mass shooting to make an appointment.

“We recognize that this is going to impact our community a lot,” Pereira said.

The 19 children and two teachers killed Tuesday were all in the same fourth grade classroom at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas. The 18-year-old gunman from San Antonio used an AR-style rifle, police said.

The Vegas Strong Resiliency Center has expanded their services outside the Las Vegas Valley, to anyone impacted by the shooting, Pereira said Wednesday. The center’s website offers tips on coping with post-traumatic stress, and provides connections to counselors and resources for parents, teachers and anyone supporting children who experience a crisis.

The Resiliency Center can be reached at 702-455-2433, or 833-299-2433, and the building at 2915 W. Charleston Blvd. is open Monday-Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The committee met Wednesday to approve the documents announcing how people can submit ideas for the memorial. The documents are expected to be released June 1, and the committee will begin accepting applications July 1.

The committee is made up of survivors, local artists and architects, a Las Vegas police chief and a project manager for the city of Las Vegas. The group is working to establish a plan for a permanent memorial of the shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, the final night of the Route 91 Harvest music festival, at the festival grounds across from Mandalay Bay.

The memorial will honor the 60 victims and hundreds of survivors who were part of the deadliest mass shooting in recent America history.

Contact Sabrina Schnur at sschnur@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0278. Follow @sabrina_schnur on Twitter.