City helps fund memorial where six died when building collapsed

Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA

Philadelphia’s mayor has pledged $300,000 in city funds toward a planned memorial park for six victims of a downtown building collapse.

Mayor Michael Nutter’s announcement Friday came two years after a building under demolition collapsed onto a smaller Salvation Army store, killing workers and shoppers trapped inside.

Two demolition contractors are charged with murder. It’s unclear if anyone else will be charged.

Wrongful-death lawsuits filed in the case allege the building was on the verge of collapse for days.

Organizers of the park say they now have nearly $1 million toward their $1.3 million goal.

The victims included an art student and her friend, a cashier working her first shift and a mother of nine from Sierra Leone. Thirteen other people were injured.