Police Hit Dead End In Brackenridge Memorial Vandalism, Community Rallying For Fix

Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter

BRACKENRIDGE, Pa. (KDKA) – Police may have hit a roadblock in trying to figure out who vandalized a local veterans' memorial.

Someone painted parts of the memorial in Brackenridge Silver Park, but the investigation has hit a dead end.

Despite video surveillance cameras in the area, the person who vandalized a war memorial in Brackenridge was never found.

A person of interest police were talking to was later found to have had nothing to do with spray painting the monument.

The war memorial and park sit right between the Allegheny River and First Avenue. There are businesses with video cameras here as well as The American Legion across the street, which has one.

For now the investigation may be stalled, police say nothing suspicious was found on the cameras, but the passion of the community to make this memorial better than ever, is stronger than ever.

"It hurts for veterans and sons of veterans like I am, to see someone desecrate that," said Jim Bradley with Sons of The American Legion in Brackenridge.

"This really means something, there's a lot of relatives whose names are on this memorial here," Larry Chifulini,Vice President of the Brackenridge Improvement Group told KDKA News.

For many in Brackenridge, the monument memorializing veterans of wars is deeply personal. Brackenridge Memorial Park is a living tribute to residents who have served. Tens of thousands of dollars were donated by the community to restore "The Arch" and castle to original glory. The silver paint thoughtlessly sprayed on the names, plaques and American Eagle on the adjacent memorial was at first a blow.

Paul Valasek with The Brackenridge Borough Improvement Group says, "We found there are other communities near us that we're going to partner with its sort of like planting the seed and get things to grow."

After the hurt dissipated a bit following the mid-February vandalism, the support, calls and offers to help came in and so did money.

"Actually just a little bit of publicity from that we already got $3,700," said Chifulini.

A restoration of the honor roll memorial was supposed to cost $1,000. Now, repairing it will go way beyond the $3,700 raised to upwards of $7,500.

Chifulini said, "We will get it done. We will. We have gotten that one done and we will get his one done also."

"We have a lot of veterans in the area and the Legion is really been instrumental in helping us. It's a small core of people that help just like our group," said Valasek.

Now the group of senior members of the community, and serviceman alike want to use this to grow stronger and show future generations what community really means.

"We're still trying to get some fresh blood and get the kids involved," said Valasek. "Everything can be turned around into a positive."

The Brackenridge Improvement Group is spearheading restoration and donation efforts of this community cornerstone. They are speaking to contractors currently. The hope is to have the spray paint removed and this monument shining once again on the bank of the Allegheny River by the community's Memorial Day celebration.