Two Unidentified Thieves Make Themselves The Most Hated People In Kansas After Stealing A Jackie Robinson Statue

Most people usually keep things pretty chill on the week nights. They come home from work, have dinner with their families, and then relax.

But two random people in Wichita, KS thought it would be a great idea to spice up their evening in the worst way possible.

A pair of unidentified thieves stole a statue of Jackie Robinson from a local park. The perpetrators sawed the statue down above the ankles, leaving only the feet on its original platform.

"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 said during a news conference Friday. "This should upset all of us."

Wichita Is Doing All It Can To Find The Jackie Robinson Statue

The statue has stood at McAdams Park since 2021, and the local “League 42” little league nonprofit raised roughly $50,000 to get the statue created. While Sullivan got his department going on the search, the city has taken other measures to help locate the statue.

On Friday, the Wichita Metro Crime Commission offered a reward of up to $2,500 for tips leading to arrests. If someone provides a tip that leads to the statue’s recovery, he or she will receive a $5,000 reward.

Wichita City Council member Brandon Johnson also said that money won’t be the only motivating factor for the local citizens. Johnson said that plenty of Wichita residents were motivated to recover the statue out of a sense of justice.

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

Lesson learned. Don’t work stealing statues into your leisure time, or else you could upset an entire town.