Coronavirus concerns have dramatically reduced the size of Friday’s dedication ceremony for Tucson’s January 8th Memorial.
Organizers originally envisioned a large affair to unveil the permanent memorial at the Historic Pima County Courthouse downtown on the 10th anniversary of the 2011 mass shooting.
Instead, only a handful of people will gather at the site shortly before 10 a.m. Friday.
“It’s not the event we planned, which would have included hundreds of people,” said Pam Simon, a former staffer for then-Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was wounded in the shooting and played a key role in the development of the memorial.
Though closed to the public, the ceremony is expected to be shown on Pima County’s Facebook page and carried live by several local television stations.
According to a county news release, the dedication will begin with a presentation of flags by an honor guard from the Northwest Fire District, Pima County Sheriff’s Department and other first responders.
That will be followed by an opening prayer from Rev. Joe Fitzgerald, Banner University Medical Center chaplain, and remarks by shooting survivor and former U.S. Rep. Ron Barber, who now serves as president of the January 8th Foundation’s Board of Directors.
Images and audio of Pima County Sheriff's Department communications during the Jan. 8, 2011 shootings at the Safeway at Ina and Oracle north of Tucson. Produced by Rick Wiley / Arizona Daily Star
Bells will ring at exactly 10:10 a.m. to coincide with when the first shots were fired.
The ceremony will also include an eight-minute video, produced by Pima County’s Communications Office, about the shooting, the development of the memorial, and the reactions to it from some of the survivors and family members of victims who have toured it.
The theme of the memorial is “The Embrace,” and it pays tribute to the six people killed and the 13 people wounded in the attack, as well as the first responders and the community’s response to the tragedy.
The project was built with $2.6 million raised by Tucson’s January 8th Foundation, a non-profit established in 2012 for that purpose.
The almost-1-acre installation was created by the team of Chee Salette architects, artist Rebeca Mendez, historical researcher Jackie Kain and lighting consultants agLicht, whose concept was chosen in 2015 after a national design competition.
The January 8 Memorial, "The Embrace", will open on the anniversary of the mass shooting in 2011 to commemorate the 19 victims. The memorial is on the west side of the Old Pima County Courthouse in El Presidio Park. Video by Kelly Presnell / Arizona Daily Star 2020
Depending on the ongoing COVID-19 public health emergency, county officials hope to open the memorial to the public by early February.
County Administrator Chuck Huckelberry said he is hopeful that whatever was originally planned for this year can be held instead on Jan. 8, 2022.
2011 Tucson mass shooting victims
Christina-Taylor Green
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Killed: Christina-Taylor Green, age 9.
Judge John Roll
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Killed: Federal Judge John Roll, District of Arizona
Gabe Zimmerman
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Killed: Gabe Zimmerman, aide to Rep. Giffords.
Phyllis Schneck
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Killed: Phyllis Schneck
Dorothy Morris
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Killed: Dorothy Morris
Dorwan Stoddard
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Killed: Dorwan Stoddard, 76
Gabrielle Giffords
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U.S. Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, pictured after treatment for a gunshot wound to the head.
Bill Badger
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Bill Badger, a retired Army National Guard colonel, was grazed by a bullet on the back of his head yet he was one of the men who tackled Jared Lee Loughner and prevented him from reloading his gun. "I'm a little more jumpy than I was before," he said. "If I hear, you know, a door slam or something, or a loud noise, why - you jump."
Ron Barber
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Ron Barber, director for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' district office, sits in his Tucson office on his first day back to work in the July 5, 2011 file photo. It appears more and more like Barber will run for her seat in the special election.
Ken and Carol Dorushka
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Ken Dorushka was shot in the forearm as he shielded his wife, Carol. "I find myself watching people a little more closely than I used to. I saw a guy in the grocery store walking around with a gun on his hip, and that disturbed me tremendously."
Eric Fuller
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Eric Fuller, who was shot twice, feared he would be unable to play tennis, but he has resumed playing. However, his emotional recovery has not been so smooth. He was taken for a mental-health evaluation at Palo Verde Hospital, where he spent several days, after disrupting a town-hall-style television program in the aftermath of the shootings.
Randy Gardner
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Randy Gardner was shot through the right foot, just below the ankle, as he chatted with retiree Phyllis Schneck, who died in the shooting. "The doctors told me it was miraculous it didn't hit any bone," Gardner said.
Suzi Hileman
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Suzi Hileman touches Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Gilbert Caudillo, who helped Hileman after she was shot in the chest and right hip. "He saved my life," she said of Caudillo. "I'm only here because of that."
George Morris
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George Morris was shot in his back and lower left leg as he tried in vain to shield his wife, Dorothy, from a spray of gunfire. "This is someone I fell madly in love with when I was 16," he said. "I miss her terribly."
Mary Reed
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Mary Reed was shot in the arms and back as she shielded her 17-year-old daughter, Emma McMahon. She also suffered shrapnel wounds to the face and leg. Reed's whole family - her husband, Tom McMahon, and their two teenagers - was in line to see Giffords when gunfire erupted. "They can never forget it," Reed said. "But I'm hoping they heal."
Pam Simon
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Rep. Gabrielle Giffords' community outreach coordinator, Pam Simon, was shot in the chest and through the right wrist. The bullet that entered her chest lodged in her upper hip. "I am very lucky. The doctors are still scratching their heads," Simon said. "Quite miraculously, other than chipping my pelvic bone, the bullet did not damage any internal organs."
Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard
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Mavanell "Mavy" Stoddard was shot three times in the legs. Stoddard also lost her husband, Dorwan "Dory" Stoddard, who died as he shielded Mavy from the gunfire. "I have to go to my good memories of a wonderful man and not dwell on the bad," Stoddard said.
Jim Tucker
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Jim Tucker, pictured with Giffords and his wife, Doris, moments before the shooting, was shot in the calf and the the right collarbone. The bullet that hit his collarbone split apart and lodged in various parts of his back. One fragment cracked a vertebra. The photo shows government working the way it's supposed to work, he said. "She was doing the thing she does best. She listens to constituents." Doris wasn't injured in the attack.
