Tucson shooting memorial picks up $61K from National Park Service
Sep 22, 2017, 1:11 PM
(Facebook Photo/Illustration)
PHOENIX — A memorial park honoring the victims of a mass shooting in Tucson six years ago has received a big monetary boost from the National Park Service.
The agency said it was giving more than $61,000 for the establishment of the January 8th Memorial park in downtown Tucson.
U.S. Rep. Raul Grijavla said Friday in a statement the park was “one meaningful way to commemorate the individuals that were taken too soon.”
The national memorial designation put the park under the supervision of the National Park Service.
The project has struggled to become reality. State funding for the long-planned memorial failed to pass through the Legislature earlier this year.
The shooting at a grocery store Jan. 8, 2011 left six dead and 13 injured, including former U.S. Rep. Gabby Giffords. She was hosting a constituents event when a gunman put a bullet in her head.
Shooter Jared Loughner was sentenced to life in prison. Among the fatally wounded was a 6-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.
“The events that took place on January 8, 2011 in our Tucson community shook us to our core. Since then, the heartbreaking tragedy has fostered an opportunity to demonstrate that even during the darkest of times, the common good of people can prevail.
“A large part of the healing that continues to happen in our Tucson community involves the active remembrance of the lasting impacts that victims and survivors had and continue to have,” Grijalva said in the statement.
A foundation set up to take charge of the memorial has spent several years raising money for a $5 million monument that would include carved symbols along a dark red steel wall, items from makeshift memorials following the shooting and areas to reflect.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.