Toronto Artist Turns Garage Door Into Tribute for Orlando Shooting Victims

— -- An artist in Toronto has honored the victims of the Pulse nightclub shooting with a mural painted on the front of a garage door.

Andrea Manica, 27, drew a rose on the garage door for each of the 49 victims killed at the Orlando, Florida, nightclub in the early morning hours of June 12.

The garage door had previously been defaced by graffiti and the homeowner put out a plea on a local Toronto Facebook trading group for help erasing the graffiti.

Manica responded to the plea prior to the nightclub shooting, which also left 53 people injured.

“We were having a back and forth of what to do with it,” Manica said of herself and the homeowner. “She wanted something community-related and then the shooting happened.

“The world was devastated by it and I thought, 'Maybe there’s some way to connect this to what happened,'” she added.

Manica had already been planning a floral design for the door and then decided to draw one rose for each of the victims. She painted the tribute over the course of two days last week, with the help of friends.

“We all feel that sadness when you lose people,” Manica said. “[The homeowner] wanted something that brought the community together and I feel like it has in so many ways.”

Manica said the garage door is in the back of the house, facing an alleyway. The tribute gained social media attention after Manica posted it on Facebook and shared it on Pulse's Facebook page.

“People have been really touched by it so I feel really humbled and blessed that that’s how it worked out,” she said.