By Micheal Chukwuebuka, Reporting
A prized statue of Jackie Robinson has been reportedly stolen from a public park in Kansas, inciting outrage across the city of Wichita.
Stonix News reports that the statue honours the first player to break Major League Baseball’s colour barrier in 1947.
In a surveillance video that was released Friday, two people were seeing hauling the sculpture away in the dark.
Wichita police revealed via a Facebook post that the statue went missing Thursday morning.
The statue was cut at the ankles to be removed. All that remained of the statue, as of when the incident was reported, was Robinson’s feet.
“I’m frustrated by the actions of those individuals who had the audacity to take the statue of Jackie Robinson from a park where kids and families in our community gather to learn the history of Jackie Robinson, an American icon, and play the game of baseball.
“This should upset all of us,” Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan said during a news conference Friday.
Sullivan further stated that the statue’s theft was shortly before Black History Month.
Robinson is considered not only a sports legend but also a civil rights icon.
The Wichita Metro Crime Commission, on Friday, offered a reward of up to $2,500 for tips leading to arrests and another $5,000 for tips that lead to the statue’s recovery
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