DOJ Awards Grant to Aid Victims of Las Vegas Mass Shooting
The agency previously awarded a grant of more than $16 million to the state of Nevada to support these services. It is awarding $8.3 million to the California Victim Compensation Board to help meet critical long-term needs of victims of the 2017 mass shooting, compensating them for financial losses and medical expenses and providing services to victims and first responders.
Rod J. Rosenstein, the U.S. deputy attorney general, announced Feb. 7 that the Department of Justice's Office for Victims of Crime will award more than $8.3 million to the California Victim Compensation Board to assist victims of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. Rosenstein made the announcement in a speech he gave at the Los Angeles Crimefighters Leadership Conference.
"The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency, but we don't just prosecute criminals—we also help their victims," he said, according to the transcript posted on the DOJ website. "Today I am announcing that our Office for Victims of Crime will award more than $8.3 million to the California Victim Compensation Board to support victims of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas. The shooting claimed the lives of 58 people—and more than half of them from California. Thousands of California residents were present that day, and hundreds were seriously wounded.
"Immediately after the shooting, we started working with officials from California and Nevada to meet the needs of victims, their families, first responders, and the community," Rosenstein continued. "We already awarded a grant of more than $16 million to the state of Nevada to support these services. Today's funding will help meet the critical long-term needs of victims, compensating them for financial losses and medical expenses and providing services to victims and first responders."
Rosenstein touted the department's partnerships with law enforcement agencies, including its Public Safety Partnership program. DOJ began with 12 PSP cities in 2017, then expanded the program last fall, sending diagnostic teams to two more cities and operations teams to three others, he said. The newest PSP cities are Miami, Tulsa, and Kansas City, he added.