The Tablet Staff
UPDATE: On November 22 the suspect, 21-year-old Bronx resident Deikel Alcantara, was arrested and charged with grand larceny.
Parishioners of the Church of St. Francis of Assisi in Midtown are saddened by the fact that a memorial to Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks, has been stolen.
According to the police, on Nov. 20, at approximately 2:30 p.m., an unidentified individual emerged from the interior of the church with a metal rose, which was part of a 9/11 memorial that includes three pieces of steel from the wreckage of the World Trade Center.
The memorial was created to honor victims of the attacks, including two individuals close to the St. Francis of Assisi community — its then-pastor, Father Mychal Judge, an FDNY chaplain who had been praying for rescuers and victims in the north tower’s lobby when he was killed by debris from the falling south tower, and Carol LaPlante, a Secular Franciscan and parishioner at the church.
The memorial sculpture came to the church 21 years ago through a donation coordinated by a local ironworkers union. The flower element was specifically designed to emerge “gently from the mass of contorted steel to transcend the senseless brutality with an enduring promise of hope,” according to a press release from the church regarding the incident.
Surveillance camera footage shows the suspect walking down a city street with the metal rose in his possession. The church’s current pastor, Father Brian Jordan, says that while the man in the footage is unidentified, he is not unfamiliar. According to Father Jordan, he had previously been removed from the church building for exhibiting “bizarre behavior.”
“We’re grieved and saddened by this act of desecration,” Father Jordan told the Associated Press. “We hope this troubled man turns himself into the police, and they, in turn, will send him to the nearest psychiatric facility so the healing process can begin.”
The following day, the church held a Ritual Sanctification regarding the act of desecration of the September 11 Memorial at 3 pm.
The suspect, who is wanted for grand larceny, is still at large according to authorities.
Anyone with information is asked to call the NYPD’s Crime Stoppers Hotline at 1-800-577-TIPS (8477) or for Spanish, 1-888-57-PISTA (74782). The public can also submit tips online https://crimestoppers.nypdonline.org.
