Vandals damaged the memorial at St. Nicholas Church to the 26 victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre and the 700+ lives lost locally to gun violence this year. Submitted photo

St. Nicholas Church, 806 Ridge Ave., was one of many sites across the country where memorials to victims of gun violence were remembered this past weekend. Dec. 14 was the eighth anniversary of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn.

People for a Safer Society planted flags in the lawn, red to remember the more than 700  victims of gun violence locally this year, and 26 white angels representing the Sandy Hook victims. Within a few days, vandals savaged the angels.

“We were very appalled on Sunday to see that some cruel fools had torn the heads and wings off the angels,” Eileen Soderstrom, Vice President of People for a Safer Society, wrote in an email.  “How much hate are we seeing in our community?”

Commander Brian Henry of the Evanston Police Department told the RoundTable the case has been assigned to a detective. He added there is no video surveillance footage of the area. 

On Dec. 14, 2012, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot and killed his mother and then drove to the school, where he shot 20 and killed children and six staff members and shortly afterward, himself.

Mary Gavin

Mary Gavin is the founder of the Evanston RoundTable. After 23 years as its publisher and manager, she helped transition the RoundTable to nonprofit status in 2021. She continues to write, edit, mentor...