ORLANDO, Fla. — On Tuesday, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the next steps for the City of Orlando’s development of a permanent memorial on the Pulse nightclub site where 49 men and women were killed nearly 8 years ago.

What You Need To Know

  • On Tuesday morning, Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer announced the next steps for the City of Orlando’s development of a permanent memorial on the Pulse nightclub site

  • Dyer highlighted that a key component for future plans will be feedback from victims, families and survivors

  • The mother of one of the 49 victims killed, expressed frustration on the city’s decision to build a memorial at the site where her son and his boyfriend died

The city purchased the Pulse site in late 2023 and officials are moving forward with efforts to honor those impacted by the shooting.

Dyer highlighted that a key component for future plans will be feedback from victims, families and survivors. 

City officials say an invitation was sent to families to gauge if they’d like to participate in the process.

The mayor said he will allow visitors to go inside the memorial if it’s safe to do so, but some are not on board with the city’s decision to host the memorial at the site of the massacre.

Christine Leinonen, the mother of Christopher Leinonen who died in the shooting, says there should’ve been a dignified memorial that could’ve softened the pain and suffering at first, but she doesn’t agree with the city’s plans to do it now.

She believes the memorial should be on other properties, and not where her son and his boyfriend died.

“I will go to the grave with a hole, a hole in my heart over my son,” said Christine. “To the city: who are you? Who gives you the right to decide that there’s even going to be a memorial there and now you want us to trust you that you’re going to do right by the victims? No, absolutely not!”

Dyer during the press conference said the goal is to work with families, create trust and memorialize the impact the tragedy has had on the 49 lives lost.

He says the city has not done this type of engagement before with victims who experienced such pain, so it sought assistance to implement an inclusive and efficient process in communicating with families.

“A memorial shouldn’t be what I want it to be, or the commissioners, it should be what survivors want it to be,” said Dyer. “We know a memorial won’t heal pain of tragedy, but hope their thoughts and suggestions will tribute the 49 lives and serve as a space for those impacted by tragedy to honor and remember and reflect.”

The city has hired Dr. Larry Schooler as the lead facilitator to communicate with families. Dr. Schooler has experience with similar tragedies and will have a team including fluent Spanish speakers and people with direct connections with the LGBTQ+ community to help during the process.

Dr. Schooler says this process will include small focus group discussions for recommendations for the memorial, including creating a memorial advisory committee with members representing the victims’ families and survivors.

This engagement work is expected to last 10 weeks. 

As far as the cost of the memorial, the mayor anticipates it will be a combination of publicly and privately funded donations.

The total cost for the engagement process consultant is just under $89,000. The city says fundraising hasn’t begun, but it’s utilizing general fund dollars for it.

Victims’ families and survivors can visit pulseorlando.org/interestform to provide input. The city says it plans on moving toward a design by the end of the year.