EDITORIAL: Proposed 1 October memorials overlook two victims

The memorial to the victims of the 1 October shooting needs to commemorate all those who died in the shooting. That sounds obvious, but at this point, it has become controversial.

The five finalists for creating a 1 October memorial recently gave a public presentation of their proposed designs. From candles to angel wings to beams of light, the plans offer unique and meaningful ways to remember the victims. Unfortunately, they all share a common flaw. The gunmen murdered 60 people, but the memorials highlight only 58 of them.

This is what’s happening. On the night of the shooting and in the immediate aftermath, 58 people died. Some of those victims died on the festival grounds. Others survived the initial shooting but succumbed to their wounds at local hospitals. Who would dispute that these souls be remembered as victims of the shooting? Just because they died later and in a different location didn’t change their cause of death. It would be unnecessarily hurtful to suggest otherwise.

But that’s exactly what some claim about Kimberly Gervais and Samanta Arjune. The two women were desperately injured in the attack. Ms. Gervais suffered a gunshot wound in the neck and was a quadriplegic. She died in November 2019, a little more than two years later. Ms. Arjune was shot in the leg. Doctors couldn’t remove it. She endured terrible agony as the bullet resurfaced. She passed away in May 2020. While other outlets moved on, the Review-Journal stayed on the story, letting the public the know the complete story of these 1 October shooting victims

In both cases, their gunshot wounds suffered during the massacre caused their deaths. Law enforcement has a term for this — “delayed death.” Medical examiners ruled both deaths homicides. In 2020, then-Sheriff Joe Lombardo increased the official death toll. “I think it’s important that we recognize those individuals today, and to bring the number of 58 to 60,” he said during the annual 1 October Sunrise Remembrance ceremony. “And that will be the number moving forward as of today.”

That’s why it’s unacceptable for the proposed memorials to highlight only 58 victims. Some families have been very vocal about that number. It was the official death toll for more than two years. They want to keep it that way. Tragedies such as these understandably stir up deep emotions.

That’s why county officials need to step in. This is the permanent memorial to the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. It must be an accurate reflection of the devastation and those it seeks to memorialize. The memorial should reflect the official death toll — 60.