Maker of Las Vegas memorial crosses builds 5 for his hometown

The Associated Press

7 years ago

Greg Zanis, of Aurora, Ill., carries one of 58 crosses he placed near the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign honoring victims of the Oct.1 shooting on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph

Cross maker Greg Zanis, right, gets a hug from Mike Warino, brother of Oct.1 shooting victim Heather Alvarado, near the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. Zanis gave Warino his sisters cross after setting up 58 crosses honoring each victim of the shooting. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph

58 crosses honoring victims of the Oct.1 shooting are seen near the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign on Friday, Sept. 28, 2018. Monday marks the one-year anniversary since the massacre. Richard Brian Las Vegas Review-Journal @vegasphotograph

The newest set of "Crosses For Losses" is displayed at the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign for the One October shooting anniversary in Las Vegas, Monday, Oct. 1, 2018. Caroline Brehman/Las Vegas Review-Journal

Mourners place a flower at the crosses outside of the Henry Pratt company in Aurora, Ill., on Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in memory of the five employees killed on Friday. (Jeff Knox/Daily Herald via AP)

Crosses are placed for the victims of a mass shooting Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. Authorities say an initial background check five years ago failed to flag an out-of-state felony conviction that would have prevented a man from buying the gun he used in the mass shooting. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

One of victim Vicente Juarez’s daughter Diana Juarez cries as she touch a cross at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

A mourner touches an one of victims’ cross at a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

Casildo Cuevas holds a victim’s cross as he walks to the Aurora police station after a makeshift memorial Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, in Aurora, Ill., near Henry Pratt Co. manufacturing company where several were killed on Friday. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh)

AURORA, Ill. — An Illinois man who has delivered more than 26,000 white crosses to sites around the U.S., largely to remember victims of gun violence, now finds himself doing the same in his hometown.

Greg Zanis made crosses for the five victims of the shooting Friday in Aurora, Illinois, where an employee about to lose his job opened fire inside the Henry Pratt Co. warehouse.

Zanis has set up crosses after the mass shootings in Las Vegas and after the school shootings at Columbine, Sandy Hook and in Orlando.

But now, he says he feels like he’s “carrying the weight of the whole city on my shoulders.”

Zanis says he heard squad cars Friday afternoon and started making crosses when he heard people had died. He placed five crosses outside the Aurora warehouse Saturday.