Fire crews discovered the burned remains of a bronzed Jackie Robinson statue on Tuesday after it was stolen last week from a public park in Kansas.
The Wichita Fire Department received a call around 8:40 a.m. about a trash can on fire at Garvey Park in the southern part of the city. On arrival, they discovered what appeared to be pieces of the statue, according to police spokesperson Andrew Ford.
During a Tuesday news conference, he said that the statue is “not salvageable.”
The statue, which was cut at the figure’s ankles, went missing Thursday morning. It honors the first player to break Major League Baseball’s color barrier in 1947, ESPN reported.
“If it turns out it was racially motivated, then obviously that is a deeper societal issue and it certainly would make this a much more concerning theft,” said Bob Lutz, Executive Director of the Little League nonprofit that commissioned the sculpture. “We’ll wait and see what this turns out to be.”
Our statue was found, dismantled and burned, at Garvey Park in Wichita. A news conference will begin shortly.
— Bob Lutz (@boblutz) January 30, 2024
League 42 said it paid about $50,000 for the model, which was installed in 2021 in McAdams Park, where roughly 600 children play in the youth baseball league.
Arson investigators say they have conducted more than 100 interviews and will review surveillance video that shows two people hauling the statute away in the dark to a truck that was later found abandoned.
“Yes, it’s really disheartening to see the remnants of the statue and the disgraceful way in which it has been disrespected,” Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said, describing the discovery of it as a “direct indication of the pressure” the perpetrators felt from the ongoing investigation.
He said police are conferring with the prosecutor’s office regularly.
“There will be arrests, but we’re going to make sure that when we do, we will have a solid case,” he said, adding that for anyone involved in the theft, “it is only a matter of time.”
Lutz, the nonprofit director, said a new statue would be installed. He said the mold is still viable and anticipated that a replacement could be erected within a matter of months.”I’m trying to keep it together,” he said, adding: “The statue that reappears at McAdams Park will be the work of John Parsons.” He stressed that “we are ready for some joy.”
The theft was discovered shortly before Black History Month. But Lutz said in an interview after the news conference that he was hopeful the motive wasn’t racial but that the thieves just saw the bronze as monetarily valuable.
Council Member Brandon Johnson described the statue as a “symbol of hope” and said donations for the replacement are coming from local businesses and through an online fundraiser.
“This now lets us know that we need a new statue,” he said of the destroyed remains. “We’re no longer looking for a complete intact statue. We know we need to raise the money to replace it, and we will do so.”
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