NYC Probes Fire At Chapel For 9/11 Victims

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NYC probes fire at chapel for 9/11 victims

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091031/ap_on_re_us/us9_11_remains_fire

By VERENA DOBNIK, Associated Press Writer Verena Dobnik, Associated Press Writer – Sat Oct 31, 5:54 pm ET

NEW YORK – A small fire at the temporary home for the remains of thousands of World Trade Center victims was likely arson committed after a break-in on Saturday, authorities said.

The smoldering flames in a section of the facility's chapel on Manhattan's East Side were quickly extinguished.

Firefighters got a call at about 9 a.m. to respond to Memorial Park, a weatherproof tent on Manhattan's East Side where the city is storing the remains of 9/11 victims who have yet to be identified.

The fire damaged a wooden bench, while mementos — pictures, notes, flowers — honoring the dead disappeared.

"Anyone who would set fire to the inviolable Memorial Park chapel is craven and contemptible," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

Fire marshals and police were investigating.

Nazli Parvizi, the mayor's community affairs commissioner, sent 9/11 families an e-mail informing them of the incident. Sally Regenhard, whose son perished at the World Trade Center, forwarded the statement to The Associated Press.

Parvizi told the families that about an hour before the fire started, a break-in was discovered in the chapel. Memorial Park is near the city medical examiner's office, which created special photo IDs to be used by families to enter the site.

Authorities were unsure whether the mementos had been stolen or burned, "but little remains inside the chapel," said Parvizi, adding that the structure showed some smoke damage.

[Gold9472]

Arrest made in fire at NYC chapel for 9/11 victims

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hII6zE2-KU2fTShQ7VkShAsDet-wD9BME6480

By VERENA DOBNIK (AP) – 20 minutes ago

NEW YORK — A man was arrested Saturday on suspicion of setting a small fire at the temporary home for the remains of thousands of World Trade Center victims, police said.

Police announced the arrest nearly 12 hours after the fire, which was set following a break-in. Charges against the 26-year-old were pending, police said.

The smoldering flames in a section of the facility's chapel on Manhattan's East Side were quickly extinguished.

Firefighters got a call at about 9 a.m. to respond to Memorial Park, a weatherproof tent on Manhattan's East Side where the city is storing the remains of 9/11 victims who have yet to be identified.

The fire damaged a wooden bench, while mementos — pictures, notes, flowers — honoring the dead disappeared.

"Anyone who would set fire to the inviolable Memorial Park chapel is craven and contemptible," Mayor Michael Bloomberg said in a statement.

Fire marshals and police were investigating.

Nazli Parvizi, the mayor's community affairs commissioner, sent 9/11 families an e-mail informing them of the incident. Sally Regenhard, whose son perished at the World Trade Center, forwarded the statement to The Associated Press.

Parvizi told the families that about an hour before the fire started, a break-in was discovered in the chapel. Memorial Park is near the city medical examiner's office, which created special photo IDs to be used by families to enter the site.

Authorities were unsure whether the mementos had been stolen or burned, "but little remains inside the chapel," said Parvizi, adding that the structure showed some smoke damage.

[Gold9472]

Please don't be a 9/11 Truth Activist... please don't be a 9/11 Truth Activist... please don't be a 9/11 Truth Activist...

[Gold9472]

Chapel Housing 9/11 Remains Is Set Afire

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/nyregion/01fire.html

By SARAH WHEATON
Published: October 31, 2009

The inside of a temporary structure where the remains of those who did not survive the burning World Trade Center towers on Sept. 11, 2001, was itself set aflame on Saturday morning. A 26-year-old man was arrested.

None of the remains themselves were damaged, but candles and mementos left by victims’ family members at the chapel behind the chief medical examiner’s office, known as Memorial Park, were either stolen or burned, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg said in a statement.

“Anyone who would set fire to the inviolable Memorial Park chapel is craven and contemptible,” Mr. Bloomberg said.

Brian Schroeder, 26, turned himself into the police and was arrested Saturday evening, the department said. Charges were still pending, but a police spokesman said Mr. Schroeder was likely to be charged with arson.

Mr. Schroeder turned himself in as fire marshals and the Police Department’s arson unit investigated the scene, along Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive between 29th and 30th Streets. Mr. Schroeder’s motive was unclear, and no other information about him was available on Saturday evening.

A Fire Department spokesman said firefighters responded to a 911 call shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday, and found mementos and a bench smoldering. There was little more than smoke damage to the structure itself, which Mr. Bloomberg said the medical examiner’s office would repair.

In a letter sent to families of 9/11 victims, Nazli Parvizi of the mayor’s community affairs office said that a break-in had been discovered Saturday morning. “While the incident is still under investigation and details are sparse, what we do know is after the break-in, mementos were gathered and a fire was started in the chapel,” Ms. Parvizi wrote.

Though the Memorial Park site is temporary and technically a tent, it is hardly a haphazard repository. The space had a $1 million renovation in 2006; more than 10,000 remains are kept in climate-controlled, walk-in containers, and there is a separate chapel with a fountain. The remains have been dehydrated until they can be identified with DNA technology, and they will eventually be moved to a memorial at ground zero.

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Ivy League Law Grad Torches 9/11 Chapel

http://gothamist.com/2009/11/01/ivy_league_law_grad_torches_911_cha.php

11/1/2009

Acting on a dare, a drunk Harvard Law School grad allegedly set fire to a chapel yesterday that houses the remains of unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. The perp — identified as 26-year-old Brian Schroeder — broke into Memorial Park near the corner of First Avenue and East 30th Street and set the blaze at around 9 am. The fire did not get to the remains, which are kept in climate-controlled containers awaiting advances in DNA technology that might allow them to be identified, but notes, photos, flowers, and other mementos inside the white-tented sanctuary were either stolen or burned. Schroeder turned himself in to police last night.

The facility is typically closed to everyone except for the families of 9/11 victims, so it's unclear exactly how the suspect even got into the shrine. One of Schroeder's relatives said the suspect — who moved to New York to pursue a job with a law firm — didn't set the blaze because of political motives. "With all my experiences with [him], he didn't have any radical agenda. Nothing but a good person," the source told the Post. "It's clearly out of his character and I'm sure he feels for the victims' families."

The bodies will eventually be moved to the World Trade Center Memorial, which is scheduled to be completed by Sept. 11, 2011 — that is, if it isn't delayed again.

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9/11 Chapel Arsonist Claims He Was Drugged

http://gothamist.com/2009/11/02/911_chapel_arsonist_claims_he_was_d.php

11/2/2009

The Harvard Law School grad suspected of setting a fire inside a memorial for unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks claims he was drugged before he torched the shrine. A lawyer representing 26-year-old Brian Schroeder said someone might have "put something in his drink" before the 26-year-old Ivy Leaguer — who moved to New York to accept a job at a law firm — set a blaze that destroyed flowers, notes, photos, and other mementos inside Memorial Park at First Avenue and East 30th Street. In fact, the attorney claims that Schroeder didn't realize he was setting a fire in a 9/11 memorial, "although police sources said he made sure to gather many of the teddy bears left by victims' families to start the fire," according to the Post.

Drugged or just drunk, the Daily News has dubbed Schroeder "New York's newest Public Enemy No. 1." As such, the tabloid quotes several New Yorkers who are already sharpening their pitchforks. "How was this guy raised?" asked retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches, whose firefighter son Jimmy died on 9/11. "I don't know what they teach these kids at Harvard, but this was a slap in the face of every 9/11 family member." Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian, also a firefighter, was killed in the 9/11 attack took the rhetorical route: "Why are the good people gone and the losers still with us?"

The suspect's brother said his sibling — who turned himself in "after he realized the gravity of what had happened" — didn't set the blaze to prove any kind of point. "It's out of character and there's nothing that would lead me to believe it's politically motivated," said Jared Schroeder, 28. "Brian's not that kind of guy."

Schroeder — who is charged with arson and reckless endangerment — remains in jail because his friends couldn't pull together enough cash last night to pay his $3,000 bail.

[Gold9472]

Whew.