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9/11 Chapel Arsonist Claims He Was Drugged
By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 2, 2009
Modified Nov 2, 2009
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By
Ben Muessig
Published Nov 2, 2009
Modified Nov 2, 2009
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The Harvard Law School grad suspected of setting a fire inside a memorial for unidentified victims of the 9/11 terrorist attacks claims he was drugged before he torched the shrine. A lawyer representing 26-year-old Brian Schroeder said someone might have "put something in his drink" before the 26-year-old Ivy Leaguer — who moved to New York to accept a job at a law firm — set a blaze that destroyed flowers, notes, photos, and other mementos inside Memorial Park at First Avenue and East 30th Street. In fact, the attorney claims that Schroeder didn't realize he was setting a fire in a 9/11 memorial, "although police sources said he made sure to gather many of the teddy bears left by victims' families to start the fire," according to the Post.
Drugged or just drunk, the Daily News has dubbed Schroeder "New York's newest Public Enemy No. 1." As such, the tabloid quotes several New Yorkers who are already sharpening their pitchforks. "How was this guy raised?" asked retired FDNY Deputy Chief Jim Riches, whose firefighter son Jimmy died on 9/11. "I don't know what they teach these kids at Harvard, but this was a slap in the face of every 9/11 family member." Sally Regenhard, whose son Christian, also a firefighter, was killed in the 9/11 attack took the rhetorical route: "Why are the good people gone and the losers still with us?"
The suspect's brother said his sibling — who turned himself in "after he realized the gravity of what had happened" — didn't set the blaze to prove any kind of point. "It's out of character and there's nothing that would lead me to believe it's politically motivated," said Jared Schroeder, 28. "Brian's not that kind of guy."
Schroeder — who is charged with arson and reckless endangerment — remains in jail because his friends couldn't pull together enough cash last night to pay his $3,000 bail.
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Brian Schroeder
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