Police: 2 juveniles who stole bricks from 9/11 Memorial in custody, 'very remorseful'

BREMERTON -- Two juveniles who ripped up and stole fundraising bricks from the Kitsap 9/11 Memorial were caught Wednesday and were "very remorseful," Bremerton police said.

"Bricks will be back in place by nightfall," the police tweeted. "Thanks to citizen tips and all of you!"

Police had earlier released surveillance video showing the two -- a male and female -- on Tuesday stealing engraved bricks from the memorial that was built to honor the more than 3,000 people killed in the terrorist attacks in New York City,  Pennsylvania and at the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

"It's like going to a grave site and stealing items from somebody's grave," Bremerton police Sgt. Keith Sargent said earlier Wednesday.

"What`s wrong with people?" asked Jim Green, a Bremerton resident. "I don`t know, but there`s something definitely wrong."

Police say the two juveniles dug the bricks out of the sand at about noon Tuesday and stuffed them in a backpack.

"It`s a sacred place here in Bremerton for 9/11. To desecrate it, removing items, is an act that people should be held accountable for," Sargent said.

The memorial -- which opened on Sept. 11, 2013 -- includes two massive steel beams from Ground Zero that shoot upward from the ground. Steel artifacts from the attacks at New York City, the Pentagon and Pennsylvania surround the beams.

And so do the fundraising bricks that bear the names of donors who shelled out $175 apiece to help pay for the memorial

Green says he visits the site nearly every day.

"This means a lot. I mean, everybody that went through it, you gotta feel it. You look at those and, geez, it`s just amazing."

Police had asked the public to help them identify the culprits from the surveillance video.

Below is our earlier video about the case: