VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. - The May 31st Memorial Committee, tasked with planning a memorial for the 2019 mass shooting at the Virginia Beach Municipal Center, recommended a site for a permanent memorial to the Virginia Beach City Council.
According to Tiffany Russell, the director of communications for the City of Virginia Beach, the site sits on city-owned land on the corner of Nimmo Parkway and Princess Anne Road, near Building 30 of the city's municipal center complex.
The memorial would honor the 12 people killed and four people injured in the May 31, 2019 shooting.
Additionally, the committee proposed that a marker be placed at the former Building 2, where the shooting took place.
The committee's next steps will include choosing a design team and finalizing a design to submit to City Council. A presentation given to City Council suggests that the council will fund two $10,000 design stipends to finalists by August 9, 2022, with the finalists being chosen by October 2022 and the final design being selected by spring 2023.
Jason Nixon, whose wife Kate died in the shooting, served on the committee.
"Once we have this I can take my girls to it and show them, 'Hey, your mom meant a lot to the City of Virginia Beach,'" he told News 3.
Nixon says several ideas are being talked about for the design of the memorial, including a meditation path or walk-out over the lake. He says the work has helped him.
"This has given me a sense of ownership and I'm able to put my thoughts and comments in. People are starting to listen and they're taking it seriously," Nixon said.
Nixon hopes it will be a place to reflect, but also inform of the lives lost and their stories. "I don't want [the public] to ever forget. I want to incorporate some sort of educational piece. This is a historical landmark," he said.
