UCSON, Ariz - The Memorial to remember Tucson's January 8th mass shooting will be about one-third smaller than originally planned.
The memorial will build based on 2.3 million dollars instead of the four million that was its original fundraising target but organizers say that's not a shortfall, it is the right amount to build the right remembrance.
The memorial to victims and survivors of the January 8th mass shooting will go up in the shadows of Pima County's historic old courthouse. Now organizers say the size of the memorial will be smaller than originally planned but the community spirit will still be just as large.
Memorial organizers say their real goal was to create the right memorial, raise enough to pay for it and stop fundraising when they had enough.
Foundation director Crystal Kasnoff says when they looked harder at the site, they realized the original plan was too large.
"They spray painted the outline on the ground and it was at that time that we came back together and said it may not fit the building completely appropriately so let's shrink it down a little."
She says the new plan is about one-third smaller, fits the money raised, and still includes the elements they wanted to remember victims and the strength and compassion Tucsonans showed after the shootings.
"We do not want this to be about guns and gun laws.”
January 8th survivor and former Congressman Ron Barber says Tucson's memorial stands apart from the gun debate re-energized since a gunman killed 17 students and teachers at a high school in Florida.
He hopes people will see the memorial as a remembrance of a community's resilience and remember the victims were killed or wounded exercising a very American right.
"Because a Member of Congress was meeting with her constituents and we believe that's an important message that Members of Congress or any elected official ought to be accessible to the people they serve."
The Memorial should be ready in just under two years.
