Survivors and relatives of the victims of the 2016 Pulse nightclub massacre in Florida gathered at an Orlando church on Wednesday to mark the anniversary of the attack which left 49 people dead.
On June 12, 2016, Omar Mateen opened fire during a Latin night celebration, leaving 49 dead and 53 wounded.
At the time, it was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But it was surpassed the following year when 58 people were killed and more than 850 were injured among a crowd of 22,000 at a country music festival in Las Vegas.
Mateen, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group, was killed after a three-hour standoff with police.
Survivors and the families of victims of the attack had hoped by now to have a permanent memorial in place for Wednesday's anniversary.
Instead, new, scaled-back plans are only now getting off the ground following a botched effort to build a multimillion-dollar memorial and museum by a private foundation that disbanded last year.
The city of Orlando purchased the nightclub property last year for $2 million, and it has since outlined more modest plans for a memorial.
The original idea for a museum has been jettisoned and, last week, city leaders formed an advisory board to help determine what the memorial will look like.
"The one thing that we do know is that it will be at the site of the Pulse Nightclub," Buddy Dyer, Orlando's Mayor, said of the memorial.
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