Memorial Dedication Ceremony and Bell Ringing Will Mark Seventh Anniversary of Tucson Shooting
Tucson, Arizona (PRWEB) January 05, 2018 -- Note to media: The event is open to media coverage. However, to honor a request by the Tohono O’odham Nation, please no video or photography during the blessing ceremony by Nation members.
WHAT: January 8th Memorial Dedication and Bell Ringing
WHEN: Monday, Jan. 8, 2018, 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: El Presido Park, 160 W. Alameda St.
Memorial Dedication Ceremony and Bell Ringing Will Mark Seventh Anniversary of Tucson Shooting
Tohono O’odham Nation will bless memorial site;
former Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords among speakers
The site of the memorial to victims and responders of the 2011 Tucson shooting will be dedicated on Monday, January 8 – the seventh anniversary of the event in which six people were killed and 13 others wounded.
There also will be a bell ringing to honor the victims.
The dedication of the downtown location comes as the memorial project moves from fundraising to construction.
“This memorial will honor not only those who attended Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords’ Congress on Your Corner event seven years ago, but also the heroic first responders and all those in the community who came together to help us recover,” said Ron Barber, a former congressman and chairman of Tucson’s January 8th Memorial Foundation. “This was an important event in Tucson’s history and it is fitting that future generations understand and learn from it.”
Barber and Giffords were among those wounded seven years ago. Both also will be among the speakers at Monday’s dedication ceremony.
Members of the Tohono O’odham Nation, whose ancestors were the first to settle in the Tucson valley, will bless the site of the memorial at Monday’s event.
At 10:11 a.m. Monday, the moment of the 2011 shooting, representatives of Northwest Fire District and Banner University Medical Center will ring a bell 19 times honoring those who died and were wounded. Northwest personnel provided immediate aid to the victims and many of the survivors were treated at Banner University.
Tucson Mayor Jonathan Rothschild; Sharon Bronson, chair of the Pima County Board of Supervisors; survivors of the shooting; and major donors to the memorial are among others who will speak Monday.
Monday’s event also marks the initiation of the development phase and the creation of the engineering plans needed to construct the memorial. Groundbreaking is anticipated to be in about 12 months.
Crystal Kasnoff, Executive Director, Tucson’s January 8th Memorial Foundation, http://www.tucsonsmemorial.org, +1 (520) 393-8317, [email protected]
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