1 October shooting victims honored by Raiders at Allegiant Stadium
Standing less than 2 miles away from where the tragic events of Oct. 1, 2017, occurred, the Raiders paid their respects Thursday to those impacted by the Route 91 Harvest festival shooting.
The unpublicized event kicked off around the time of night that three years ago the first shots were fired into the crowd of thousands taking in country star Jason Aldean’s performance at the Las Vegas Village festival grounds, where ultimately 60 people died and more than 800 were injured.
Each of the 60 victims’ names were flashed on the marquee sign at the stadium for one minute, while a light beam near the lanai doors of the stadium lit up. After the hour it took to flash each name and light each of the 60 light beams, the names will shuffle on the video board, each for 10 seconds at a time, with a “Vegas Strong” logo at the bottom of the screen.
Come Friday morning the operation will work in reverse, with each name again shown for one minute as their light beam is turned off.
“What we wanted to do is honor the 60 victims of the 10-1 tragedy, Las Vegas’ darkest night,” said Raiders owner Mark Davis, who was present, along with team president Marc Badain, for the approximately hourlong ceremony. “We turned out all the lights of the stadium at 10:05 p.m. and displayed their name on the board and lit a light in their honor. In the morning at sunrise, we’ll reverse the procedure… and when all the lights are out we’ll welcome a new, bright day in Las Vegas and continue to be Vegas Strong.”
Taking to their Twitter account Thursday morning, the Raiders posted “Vegas Strong” with a short message included.
#VegasStrong pic.twitter.com/jtoFTR74KA
— Derek Carr (@derekcarrqb) October 1, 2020
“We remember the lives lost on October 1, 2017, and those who have worked tirelessly since to provide a sense of comfort and community,” the tweet posted to the team’s verified account said.
Davis said he was set to live in the Four Seasons Hotel, which is attached to the Mandalay Bay, even receiving the floor plans to his room the week before the shooting occurred. He opted to live elsewhere following the tragedy.
He said he saw the news after returning to Oakland following the Raiders’ game with the Denver Broncos that Sunday and the first thing he thought of was how he could help. Davis and some Raiders staff and alumni made the trip to Las Vegas a few days after to meet with first responders and local and state officials.
“We met with the governor (then-Gov. Brian Sandoval), then Jim Murren of MGM (Resorts) had us come over and we met the security guard that had been in contact with the shooter, we brought him a helmet and a Raiders jersey,” Davis said. “We met the sheriff and gave him a jersey and helmet as well. It was quite a surreal scene.”
The Raiders previously honored the victims on the 62-acre stadium site when just a little over a month after the shooting in November 2017 the team shined 58 beams of light in the air for those who died in the mass shooting, during the groundbreaking ceremony for Allegiant Stadium. The number of casualties has since been updated to 60, reflecting two more victims that succumbed to their injuries from the shooting over the past year.
The team also featured “Vegas Strong” decals on their helmets in their Week 5 game in 2017 in Oakland. The team also displayed the names of those who died from the shooting on the video board during the National Anthem and donated $50,000 to the American Red Cross.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on Twitter.
