{"id":441105,"date":"2026-08-23T08:32:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/441105\/"},"modified":"2026-08-23T08:32:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T08:32:14","slug":"thieves-steal-valuable-bronze-soldier-statue-from-southern-california-military-memorial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/441105\/","title":{"rendered":"Thieves steal valuable bronze soldier statue from Southern California military memorial"},"content":{"rendered":"

Residents and local veterans are angry after a bronze soldier statue from a military memorial in Paramount was stolen, marking the second time the memorial has been vandalized.<\/p>\n

The Armed Forces Memorial was unveiled outside Paramount City Hall in 2024. It features a life-size bronze statue depicting a kneeling soldier in front of a battlefield cross made from a fallen soldier’s boots, rifle, helmet and ID tags.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On Aug. 19, authorities said surveillance video showed a suspect in a dark-colored vehicle arriving at the memorial around 2:15 a.m.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The person used a tool to completely remove the bronze soldier statue from the base before escaping in a getaway car. The entire theft took less than four minutes.<\/p>\n

\"Memorial<\/p>\n

Vandals stole a bronze rifle from the Armed Forces Memorial in Paramount, California. May 2025. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"Armed<\/p>\n

The Armed Forces Memorial features a life-size bronze statue depicting a kneeling soldier in front of a battlefield cross made from a fallen soldier’s boots, rifle, helmet and ID tags. (paramountcity.gov)<\/p>\n

\"Thieves<\/p>\n

Thieves stole a life-size bronze soldier statue from the Armed Forces Memorial in Paramount, Los Angeles County. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"Suspects<\/p>\n

Suspects sawed off a bronze rifle that used to be a part of the Armed Forces Memorial in the city of Paramount. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Armed Forces Memorial features a life-size bronze statue depicting a kneeling soldier in front of a battlefield cross made from a fallen soldier’s boots, rifle, helmet and ID tags. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Armed Forces Memorial features a life-size bronze statue depicting a kneeling soldier in front of a battlefield cross made from a fallen soldier’s boots, rifle, helmet and ID tags. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"Thieves<\/p>\n

Thieves stole a life-size bronze soldier statue from the Armed Forces Memorial in Paramount, Los Angeles County. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

\"Thieves<\/p>\n

Thieves stole a life-size bronze soldier statue from the Armed Forces Memorial in Paramount, Los Angeles County. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

“That [statue] means a lot to us,” said veteran Louis Macias. “Why would anybody want to take that?”<\/p>\n

“I was sickened,” said Frank Walker, who was a hospital corpsman during the Vietnam War.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This incident marked the second time the sculptures were vandalized. In May 2025, shortly before Memorial Day, suspects sawed off the bronze rifle<\/a> and caused other damage to the memorial.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Together, the missing soldier and rifle are worth an estimated $100,000.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city later restored and reinforced the area by adding better lighting and security cameras, however, that didn’t appear to deter thieves from targeting the bronze sculptures yet again.<\/p>\n

Residents and community members were frustrated to hear of the memorial being targeted again.<\/p>\n

\"Thieves<\/a><\/p>\n

Thieves stole a life-size bronze soldier statue from the Armed Forces Memorial in Paramount, Los Angeles County. (KTLA)<\/p>\n

“It hurts the morale for all of the veterans who have been around in the city of Paramount,” said Navy veteran Andreas Cervantes.<\/p>\n

Authorities were unable to provide a suspect description due to poor video quality from nearby surveillance cameras.<\/p>\n

Cervantes said he would like to see the suspects do the right thing and return the stolen statue and rifle.<\/p>\n

Paramount city officials said the memorial’s desecration is a “shameful act of disrespect to those who risked their lives protecting our country and freedoms, as this memorial stands as a symbol of honor and their sacrifice.”<\/p>\n

Anyone with information on the theft is encouraged to call the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department at 213-229-1700.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to KTLA.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Residents and local veterans are angry after a bronze soldier statue from a military memorial in Paramount was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":441106,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[174801,137839,174804,15611,7,9,8,95452,174802,4407,137,6336,174803],"class_list":["post-441105","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-california","tag-armed-forces-memorial","tag-battlefield-cross","tag-bronze-soldier","tag-bronze-statue","tag-california","tag-california-headlines","tag-california-news","tag-fallen-soldier","tag-kneeling-soldier","tag-ktla","tag-los-angeles-county","tag-paramount","tag-paramount-city-hall"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441105","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=441105"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/441105\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441106"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=441105"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=441105"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=441105"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}