LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) – At 10:05 p.m., the moment the first shots rang out at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in 2017, a remembrance ceremony was held in the Healing Garden seven years later.
For each of the 58 victims killed that night, a bell was rung and a candle was lit in remembrance. Each of the victims’ names were also read aloud by Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and City Communication Director David Riggleman.
For Goodman, who faces term limits, it was her last time doing so as the mayor. Goodman welcomed the families and reflected on the darkest day during her time in office.
FOX5 also spoke to Jay Pleggenkuhle, the founder of the Healing Garden, about how the space became a place for people to come and grieve after the largest shooting in modern American history.
“It was just too much to go on the next day business as usual and I just really felt the need to create a space where we could all come together and talk, hug, share stories, cry, light candles, hang pictures and we did not have that,” explained Pleggenkuhle.
Pleggenkuhle contacted the city attorney and the city gave them the space with the condition that the garden would be permanent. It will forever remain a protected city park, a place of peace after a night of chaos that forever changed the community.
For one California dad, who was visiting the garden for the second time since his daughter’s death, it is a healing place.
Kari Galvan was a 31-year-old mom of three who loved country music. Jeff Poole was watching her children back in Southern California when he learned of the shooting and his life changed forever.
“In the beginning, I had a hard time being in Las Vegas, period. I had a hard time listening to country music. I didn’t want to see Las Vegas…,” Poole shared with FOX5. “When it’s your daughter, your heart is ripped out and it’s hard to put it back together. You’re falsely blaming things because you have no one else to look to… because of a coward’s actions. Somebody that just randomly shoots and kills innocent people that have nothing to do with him, just here to watch a concert… In the beginning, it was almost as if it couldn’t have happened, and I waited for her to walk through my door but it didn’t happen,” Poole shared with FOX5.
“When people say time heals… it doesn’t heal anything. Time goes by and maybe you learn how to cope with things better than you did in the beginning. The best you can do is try to put your feet forward and keep moving but you don’t move past anything like this, it changes the world… and I’m glad to see that maybe it’s changed many people in Las Vegas,” Poole added.
Despite his heartbreak, Poole says the Healing Garden, its memorials, and being with other families who truly understand does help him.
Kari’s sister lived in Vegas at the time of the shooting. She moved away on October 2nd and after years away, finally moved back. She also attended Tuesday’s ceremony with her children to honor her sister.
An additional, permanent memorial is currently in the works for the site of the shooting. Fundraising efforts to support the memorial kicked off on Monday.
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