Staten Island's 9/11 Memorial Vandalized: CORRECTION: No Vandalism Occurred

CORRECTION: The earlier reports indicating that vandalism occurred were wrong. The Advance reports, "Borough Hall apologized to 9/11 families today, saying that the five missing panels on the “Postcards” World Trade Center memorial were not the result of new vandalism, but were removed for repairs by the city." (Two of the plaques were the ones damaged last year by the homeless woman.) Molinaro said, "I jumped the gun. We all thought it was vandalism... Nobody took any anger out on them."

My post as it originally ran:

Someone has again taken to vandalizing the 9/11 Memorial on Staten Island. This isn't the first time it's been vandalized, but the damage is more significant this time.

The "Postcards" memorial contains 274 plaques in honor of Staten Islanders who perished in the 1993 and 2001 terrorist attacks on the trade center.

Officials say five granite plaques were torn off, leaving gaping spaces in the soaring sculpture. The damage was first detected this week. No arrests have been made.

Borough President James Molinaro says the names of the victims whose plaques were removed will not be released out of respect for their families.

Molinaro says the missing plaques will be replaced from molds in time for this year's 9/11 service at the Postcards site.

Last year, two memorial plates were smashed. Another was smashed and thrown in the nearby harbor in 2007.

The memorial is adjacent to the Richmond County Ballpark where the Staten Island Yankees play, and is along the waterfront with a commanding view of New York Harbor and Lower Manhattan.

This is another photo of the memorial (taken by Frank Ritter), which looks like outstretched hands when viewed from some angles.