CHICAGO— Saturday marks 21 years since 21 people were killed and more than 50 were injured in a stampede at E2 nightclub in the South Loop.
Over two decades later, the grief is raw for many of those who lost a relative in the disaster on Feb. 17, 2003.
Family members of the victims gathered on Saturday for a somber vigil. They say they will continue to honor their loved ones, but some are now calling on local leaders to acknowledge them by creating a memorial at the site.
“His biggest accomplishment was my niece,” Anjenita Myers, a victim’s sister, said.
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For the first time ever, Myers and her family came to the old E2 nightclub where her brother, 22-year-old Antonio Myers, and twenty other men and women lost their lives 21 years ago.
Antonio’s daughter, Aniya Myers, who was just weeks old when he died, came too.
“I just wish somehow, someway, he could have still been here. There’s no comfort being here,” Aniya Myers said.
On Saturday afternoon families who lost a relative in the disaster braved the cold to comfort one another and remember the lives lost.