A memorial honoring Kansas City veterans outside the Hope Faith homeless day shelter was vandalized Friday night.
Surveillance video captured a man dislodging a bronze helmet and gun from a statue for veterans around 10:50 p.m. Friday night, said Doug Langner, executive director of Hope Faith at 705 Virgina Ave.
The footage shows two men roaming around the intersection of Virginia Avenue and Admiral Blvd.
One of them leaps into the area where the statue is installed and removes the 30 pound bronze gun and helmet.
The two men then take off down Admiral Blvd.
On Saturday morning, a woman walked into the shelter with the pieces of the statue and said she had found them in the street.
Langner said the shelter plans on reinstalling the pieces since they were returned in good shape and because the statue sends an important message to the homeless veterans that the organization serves.
Two years ago, Hope Faith erected the statue after finding about 6% of those they help come from a military background. That number is likely higher, Langner said, because some people are discrete about their military service if they did not travel overseas or were dishonorably discharged.
“We wanted to let our veterans know, yes, it’s OK to come in for services and we’re going to be there for you. They’re a proud group and sometimes they don’t want to seek help,” he said.
Langner filed a report Saturday with the Kansas City Police Department. Additional information from the police department was not immediately available.
___
(c) 2022 The Kansas City Star
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
