VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The 5/31 Memorial Planning Committee in Virginia Beach wants to hear from you.
Where would you like to see the memorial honoring the 12 people who were killed by a city employee back in 2019 at the municipal center? What do you want it to look like?
The next step for committee members is to pick a location.
But before they do that, they wanted to hear from the community—something that was extremely important to Jason Nixon who lost his wife in the shooting.
"The memorial is not just about my wife or the people that lost their lives that day. It’s about the responders, the people that were also injured, it’s about the community of Virginia Beach," he said.
A small crowd showed up in person to fill out the survey at the convention center Wednesday night. But once they switched to the call-in conversation, more people dialed in.
Toni called in from Virginia Beach to say she doesn’t think the memorial should be at the Oceanfront or a very public place.
"A memorial would be very well done as a private setting on city land. More or less as a park with some beauty and some benches that people could sit and reflect and pray," the caller said.
Patricia, who lost her sister Mary Louise Gayle in the shooting, said she knows exactly where she wants it to go.
“I’ve seen the sites and I definitely want it near building two. No doubt about that," she said. "Someplace that we can go to other than their graves that we can all enjoy and spend time.”
Rita called in to say she lives near proposed site D, near West Neck Road. She said because it’s in a residential area with little parking, that’s not a great spot.
“It looks like a wonderful place for a memorial, but there’s children that play there all the time, people ride their bikes and walk their dogs, so I don’t know if they would actually have enough privacy," she said.
Raymond told the committee his grandson was in building two that day but was fortunate enough to get out safely.
He answered a question the committee has been discussing during their first few meetings—should the survivors be honored or remembered at the memorial in some way?
"They would just rather, I think, have that people that were actually killed that day on that plaque to see," he said. "These are the ones who sacrificed for our city.”
The committee will meet again Thursday night to go over the results of the survey to move forward on choosing a location.
It’s not too late to voice your opinion. The committee just published a survey on the city of Virginia Beach’s website. That closes on May 18.
You can take the survey here or email your comments directly to Kearns and West at VB531@kearnswest.com.