9/11 Memorial Torn Down in New York
Police hunting for thugs who desecrated NYC firefighters' memorial
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A memorial in New York, dedicated to firefighters who gave their lives during the 9/11 terror attacks, has been torn down by vandals, police say.
Authorities are hunting for the thugs responsible for desecrating the memorial in Washingtonville, New York.
Investigators confirmed that a flagpole at the monument, honoring five firefighters who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks, was cut down and toppled by vandals.
The desecration of the patriotic display, in the village north of New York City, was discovered Wednesday, according to the Times-Herald Record.
Police believe the damage was a planned and targetted attack.
Washingtonville Police Chief Brian Zaccaro told the newspaper that those behind the vandalism used a professional cutting tool to sever the flagpole about five feet from its base.
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Those responsible then scrawled a message on the part left standing, Chief Zaccaro revealed.
Police would not disclose the nature of the message, but did reveal that an eagle figure attached to the flagpole was found next to a toppled sign at the St. Mary's Parish Center about a half-mile away.
The destroy everything & hate everyone culture has struck again last night as the Washingtonville NY Orange County 9/11 Memorial park was vandalized & AMERICAN FLAG CUT DOWN. These individuals obviously don't know what sacrificing everything to save a fellow human being really is pic.twitter.com/oUFdh3gWr2
— NYCFireWire (@NYCFireWire) July 8, 2020
"These two locations mean so much to Washingtonville and the larger community," New York State Assemblyman Colin Schmitt, whose district includes the area, said in a press release.
Washingtonville Mayor Joseph Bucco said the village will now replace the damaged flagpole and a $3,000 reward is being offered for information about the incident and the suspects, the Times-Herald Record reported.
The memorial features a semi-circle of granite monuments honoring five members of the New York City Fire Department -- firefighters Mark Whitford, Bobby Hamilton and Gerry Nevins, Batallion Chief Dennis Devlin, and Lt. Glenn Perry, the newspaper adds.
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Although the motivation behind the destruction is not clear, the attack comes as monuments and historic statues across America are being targeted for desecration by radical activists.
As Neon Nettle previously reported, a memorial inside a California cemetery, which was dedicated to survivors of the Holocaust, was toppled and smashed by vandals in late June.
Police are investigating the incident at Santa Rosa Memorial Park to determine if it was a hate crime.
The fountain, which was found broken into pieces on the ground, was “part of a memorial created for the late Lillian Judd and her husband Emil, beloved figures in the local Jewish community who survived Nazi concentration camps during World War II,” according to a report by the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
