Memorial Garden gives Vegas families an opportunity to take stock of victims' CBS Sacramento

LAS VEGAS (AP) – An image of the son of Angelica Cervantes wearing a black and yellow security guard t-shirt is one of dozens of smiling photos glued to the walls of the house. a Las Vegas garden decorated with ribbons, cowboy boots, horseshoes and rubber bracelets.

Cervantes travels every two weeks to look at the picture that has resisted the desert sun for almost a year and to ask his son, Erick Silva, to look after her, her stepfather and her brothers and sisters. "Cuidanos," he begs, sometimes in tears.

Silva was one of 58 people killed on October 1, 2017, in the deadliest shooting of the year. modern history of the United States. For their families and those who survived the massacre at a country music festival, this garden created by volunteers over the next few days is a place of mourning and healing.

"This has given me space to talk with him and he is there with his angels," said Cervantes, referring to the other victims. "Sometimes I meet (another mother) there. Some ask me how he was doing. Talking about him makes me proud.

Among the lights of the Las Vegas Strip, there is no indication of the carnage that took place a year ago. The festival grounds are fenced and green screens block any view of the interior. The flowers, flags, crowns and other objects that encumbered a mid-road and the "Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas" sign have been removed for a long time.

Today, the 59-tree garden – one for each victim and one oak representing life – is the only permanent public space in the Las Vegas area created in memory of the victims. It is a few meters from a bus stop and an adult store and miles from the shooting site.

The space of half a acre was to be a dog park, but in the days following the shooting, the ground was leveled, concrete bricks were placed and trees, shrubs, purple pansies, red and white roses and bright pink petunias were planted. A "wall of remembrance" was assembled from wooden pallets.

The wooden wall has recently been replaced by a set of metal structures and faux wood. The photos and several elements of the original wall have been transferred. A fountain now works and a blue stone sculpture of a pair of angel wings bearing the initials of each victim has recently been added.

Throughout the year, friends and relatives have decorated the trees of their loved ones. A laminated photo of Arizona Diamondbacks players paying homage to Christiana Duarte is tied to one tree, while another has decorated river stones for Hannah Ahlers. Cervantes has previously left a t-shirt and flowers.

A museum stores the original wall and the memories left in the garden that can be damaged by inclement weather, while volunteers from another museum have listed more than 15,000 objects left in makeshift monuments in last october. A small sample of these thousands of items – including cowboy boots, hats, stuffed animals and candles – has recently been on display.

A committee chaired by Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval will work on the design, financing and construction of a permanent memorial. If history holds, it will be years before it is completed. Nearly a decade has passed before the end of the Columbine High School massacre memorial, while a committee just last month decided to design the Sandy Hook Elementary School Memorial. shooting at victims.

The practice of honoring the dead with makeshift memorials and roadside sanctuaries is not new, but storing items left behind. Ashley Maynor, who has studied the community's response to the tragedies, said that both methods were used to treat bereavement.

"After a tragedy of this magnitude that reveals something as disturbing about human character, people want to do something to reaffirm their humanity, reaffirm the goodness of the world and have the impression of coping with whatever something incomprehensible, "said Maynor. , Librarian Specialist in Digital Scholarships at New York University.

It's the need to do something that has pushed Jay Pleggenkuhle and his business partner to draw the garden on a paper napkin and ask the city for a fleeting park space. Businesses and individuals immediately mobilized to help and a year later they continue to do so.

Cervantes – whose son was his right hand and who loved Halloween and the burritos – will return to the garden on October 1, when the name of each victim will be read at a ceremony.

"Many family members came back and spent time in the garden," said Pleggenkuhle. "One victim in particular – his parents live in Redding, California, and whenever they come to Las Vegas, they come to the garden. Instead of being angry and bitter in Las Vegas and what happened to their daughter here, they are watching how this community has come together to create something beautiful to honor her life.

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Find the entire AP coverage of the mass shoot in Las Vegas here: https://apnews.com/tag/LasVegasmassshooting.

Copyright 2018 The Associated Press.