Vegas-Themed Halloween Display Is Horrific for All the Wrong Reasons

Homeowners in North Las Vegas have taken down a Halloween display referencing this month's mass [...]

Homeowners in North Las Vegas have taken down a Halloween display referencing this month's mass shooting after receiving widespread negative attention, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reports.

The Halloween decorations in front of the home consisted of a makeshift cemetery with American flags and 58 headstones, one for each of the victims killed by Stephen Paddock at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. The display was fenced in by police tape and set against a large #VegasStrong banner hanging on the wall behind it.

The display received widespread attention on social media Tuesday night and by Wednesday afternoon, the banner was all that remained.

While it was likely taken down because some saw it as disrespectful for a city and families still mourning, others interpreted it as a tribute to the victims.

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"I drive past this every day and when they first put it up, it touched my heart," neighbor Guy Becnel told the Las Vegas Review-Journal while the headstones were still up.

Another neighbor, Leo Rullodah, who lives across the street from the home, says he didn't see anything wrong with the display.

"I still don't understand why other people are offended," he said.

Alina Tril, who drove past it, said she was unsettled by the display but thought by the supportive banner that it was not meant to be offensive.

"I drove in here and it caught my eye and I just kept staring at it," she said. "I just parked my car and just tried to understand what their intentions were."

One person on Twitter reacted to a photo of the display saying he didn't like the Halloween context of it.

"I dont like the halloween context for this. Honor the murdered & injured properly. Not by making light of it with decorations for halloween!" he wrote.

The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that neither of the people listed on property records as the home's owners could be reached by phone for comment, but the homeowner did release a statement through his lawyer.

"The message was supposed to be 'Rest in peace, Vegas strong,' " attorney Stephen Stubbs told KTNV 13 Action News. "He's completely devastated that anybody took his tribute to be anything but positive and reverent towards the victims."

"The minute that he even heard that anybody was close to offended by it, he immediately took it down and just left the banner up," he added.

Photo Credit: Twitter / @bizutesfaye

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