DAYTON, Ohio — It’s been more than two years since a mass shooting in Dayton’s Oregon District left nine people dead.
Plans to make a memorial for the victims stalled during the COVID-19 pandemic. The community is now coming together to come up with a plan to permanently honor the lives stolen from their families.
“Don’t give up on yourself or your recovery,” Oregon District shooting survivor Dion Green said.
Oregon District shooting survivor Dion Green speaks at the Community Forum. (photo by Tino Bovenzi/SN1)
Green has been a strong voice and advocate over the past two years since the tragic night when he lost his father Derrick Fudge.
Green said he’s looking forward to developing the plan with the help of the community.
“It’s a collective thought,” Green said. “This can’t be nothing without all of us. It’s either none of us or all of us.”
Committee members said the first meeting is square one for the memorial project.
Sandy Gudorf, the co-chair of the 8/4 Memorial Committee, said the first step of the meeting was to check in on how the families are healing because the pandemic interrupted that process.
The second part is to start coming up with a concept and a location.
“What should it say about our community and how we pulled together,” Gudorf said. “How do we honor those that we lost and those that experienced the tragedy.”
Green said he doesn’t have a specific vision for what the memorial should look like, nor are they set on where the memorial should be in the Oregon District.
He said finding the purpose is a more important place to start.
“What is this for? I can’t move no further to the next step until we have a solid thought on what we’re trying to bring to the community,” Green said.
No timetable has been announced for when this project is expected to be completed, or how much the project will cost.
The committee and the families put a strong emphasis on getting this right.
More meetings are expected at a later date to be determined.
