MGM Resorts announces plan to build community center at site of Las Vegas mass shooting

A community center and a place to honor the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting is set to be built at the complex where the 2017 incident occurred. 

MGM Resorts, which owns the property called the Village, announced the projects in a statement Tuesday.

The announcement comes ahead of the Oct 1 two-year anniversary of the shooting, in which 58 people were killed and hundreds were injured, making it the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.  

The company plans to build a community and athletic center at the property’s north end where sports and community events will be held. 

“We hope one day it will host high school basketball tournaments, indoor soccer for kids and provide a place for the Aces to practice and engage with the community to inspire the next generation of female athletes,” MGM resorts said, referring to the local professional women’s basketball team. “It was important to us that the long-term use of the property include the community in some way.”

The company also said it plans “to create a space on the property to remember the victims of the tragedy.”

In the near term, the property will serve as a parking area for the nearby Allegiant Stadium.

In the 2017 incident, Stephen Paddock opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 people from the high-rise Mandalay Bay casino, and later fatally shot himself. 

“We know that for many, the Village property will forever be linked to the tragic loss of life that took place there on October 1st,” said the MGM statement. “We will never forget the victims, and all of those impacted by that evening.”