Yard display of gravestones in memory of Las Vegas shooting victims removed after backlash

A Las Vegas homeowner has removed a display of faux gravestones that he says honored the Oct. 1 mass shooting victims in his hometown after some people found it offensive.

A photo of the yard, at a home in North Las Vegas, appeared on Facebook Tuesday night, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The “RIP” gravestones, decorated with tiny American flags, were surrounded by yellow caution tape like that used at crime scenes. On a wall behind the cemetery scene hung a banner that read “#vegasstrong.”

By Wednesday afternoon the banner was the only part of the display that remained, according to local media.

The display shared lawn space with pumpkins and ghosts, prompting its description as a Halloween display.

The homeowner’s lawyer, Stephen Stubbs, told Fox 5 in Las Vegas the man is devastated that what he meant as a tribute to the victims ended up offending people. He took it down when he realized people were uncomfortable with it, Stubbs said.

Neighbors who took the display as a tribute to the victims were not offended and some didn’t understand why others didn’t like it.

“I drive past this every day and when they first put it up, it touched my heart,” neighbor Guy Becnel told the newspaper.

On social media, the response was more heated and mixed, with many people defending the homeowner’s intent and others calling the display tasteless.

“He had no bad intentions I'm sure I don't personally know him but I know just from the sign and the American flags on it he met this in a good way but obviously things are always going to be misinterpreted and people are going to have their own opinions on things and that's kind of what happened,” neighbor Ali Tril told Fox 5.

This story was originally published October 19, 2017 at 8:46 AM with the headline "Yard display of gravestones in memory of Las Vegas shooting victims removed after backlash."