Veterans in a Los Angeles-area city are outraged after thieves ripped a life-sized bronze soldier from a military memorial, even though signs warned the site was under round-the-clock surveillance.
Officials said the suspects managed to cut the heavy statue from its base and haul it away in under four minutes.
“I’d kill them if I could,” Vietnam veteran Frank Walker told CBS, referring to the unidentified thieves. “He needs to be drafted. He wouldn’t last very long.”
The memorial featured a kneeling soldier beside a battle cross and was installed by the city of Paramount in 2024 as a tribute to those who served in the military.
The statue stood near American Legion Post 134, which is part of the nation’s largest veterans service organization.
Video taken after the theft shows only the statue’s empty base remaining, with a traffic cone left in its place.
Surveillance footage reportedly captured at least one person pulling up in a dark vehicle, using tools to sever the statue from its base and then driving off with it, despite the monument weighing at least several hundred pounds, police told NBC Los Angeles.
The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the theft, though officials said they do not plan to release the suspects’ video.
The stolen bronze is estimated to be worth around $100,000, police said.
The brazen theft has left military families and veterans outraged.
“We really need to support these vets, and it’s a kick in the stomach for somebody to steal a monument like that,” said Manuel Covarrubias, a member of American Legion Post 134 who said he visits the memorial regularly.
This is not the first time the statue became a target.
Last year, just before Memorial Day, thieves sawed the bronze rifle off the statue, causing tens of thousands of dollars in damage.
The city called the earlier theft “a disgrace.”
Now, the entire soldier is gone.
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