Nov 1, 2009 9:22 am US/Eastern
Arrest Made In Fire At NYC Chapel For 9/11 Victims
NEW YORK (CBS) ―
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An American Flag flies in front of the construction site of One World Trade Center, known to many as the Freedom Tower, at the former World Trade Center site on September 8, 2009 in New York City.
Rick Gershon/Getty Images
A man was arrested 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.
Memorial Park is located at 30th Street near the Medical Examiner's office, which will retain access to the remains of 9/11 victims once they go to the permanent memorial at Ground Zero for future identifications.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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