A bronze statue of legendary baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson was stolen from a park in Wichita, Kan., through the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Travis Heying/AP

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Travis Heying/AP

A bronze statue of legendary baseball pioneer Jackie Robinson was stolen from a park in Wichita, Kan., through the early morning hours of Thursday, Jan. 25, 2024.

Travis Heying/AP

WICHITA, Kan. — A prized statue of Jackie Robinson was stolen from a public park in Kansas, spurring a police search Friday and outrage throughout the town of Wichita.

The statue honors the primary participant to interrupt Major League Baseball’s shade barrier in 1947. Surveillance video was launched of two folks hauling the sculpture away at nighttime. Wichita police mentioned in a Facebook submit that it went lacking Thursday morning.

The statue was reduce on the ankles to be eliminated. All that remained of the statue Friday have been Robinson’s toes.

“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,” Wichita police Chief Joe Sullivan mentioned throughout a information convention Friday. “This should upset all of us.”

He mentioned much more troubling was the statue’s theft shortly earlier than Black History Month.

Robinson performed for the Kansas City Monarchs of the Negro Leagues earlier than becoming a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers, paving the way in which for generations of Black American ballplayers. He’s thought-about not solely a sports activities legend but additionally a civil rights icon.

Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson known as the theft “horrendous” and “disgusting,” and mentioned that residents are feeling damage and offended, and demanding justice.

“Many people want to find those folks before law enforcement,” Johnson mentioned. “So again, like the chief and the (district attorney) said, if you’ve got that statue, bring it here today. Now.”

The Wichita Metro Crime Commission supplied a reward Friday of as much as $2,500 for ideas resulting in arrests and one other $5,000 for ideas that result in the statue’s restoration.

Sullivan mentioned he hopes space salvage yards will contact police if the statue is introduced in for cash.

“Once the statue is returned, we also want the individuals who robbed our community of a treasure to be held accountable for their actions,” Sullivan mentioned. “And I assure you, they will. The resources of the Wichita Police Department have been mobilized.”

Little League nonprofit League 42, named after Robinson’s quantity with the Dodgers, paid about $50,000 for the mannequin of him, Executive Director Bob Lutz mentioned. The sculpture was put in in 2021 in McAdams Park, the place the roughly 600 kids play within the youth baseball league.