Dedication ceremony planned for memorial to Tucson shooting victims

TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — A Jan. 8 dedication ceremony is planned for a memorial to victims of the 2011 shooting in Tucson that left left six people dead and then-U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords and others injured.

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the ceremony on the shooting’s 10-year anniversary will not be open to the public but several local television stations are expected to broadcast the ceremony and it will be livestreamed on Pima County’s Facebook page, county officials said Tuesday in an statement announcing the event.

The memorial next to the Historic County Courthouse in downtown Tucson was created for the victims, survivors and emergency personnel who responded to the shooting outside a Safeway store where Giffords was holding a meet-and-greet event.

The dedication ceremony will include a prayer, remarks by Ron Barber, a former Giffords aide who was wounded in the shooting, bell-ringing timed to when the first shots were fired and a video, the statement said.

The six who died included U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

In the years since the shooting, Giffords and her husband, recently elected U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, advocated for gun control.

The six who died included U.S. District Judge John Roll and 9-year-old Christina-Taylor Green.

Officials hope the memorial will be open to the public by early February if permitted by pandemic conditions, the statement said.

Construction of the memorial was funded through donations and was delayed several times after workers found pottery and other historic items buried underground.

The gunman, Jared Loughner, is serving multiple life sentences.