Dead Soldier's Family Hit by Vandals

[RBA]

washingtonpost.com
Dead Soldier's Family Hit by Vandals




The Associated Press
Tuesday, July 26, 2005; 9:24 AM


FAIRFIELD, Ohio -- Vandals tore American flags out of the yard of a dead soldier's family the day after his funeral, then set a car on fire, authorities said.

Army Pfc. Tim Hines died July 14 of complications of injuries he suffered last month in a roadside bombing in Baghdad. His funeral was Friday.

On Saturday, someone pulled the flags out of the family's yard, stuffed them under a car in the driveway and set the whole thing on fire. Firefighters doused the blaze and no one was injured, but the car was destroyed.

No arrests had been made by early Tuesday. Authorities offered a $5,000 reward for tips.

"As we get into this, we feel it was more of a crime of opportunity as opposed to a planned act," Police Chief Mike Dickey told CNN Tuesday morning.

Lt. Ken Colburn, a police spokesman, said authorities hope "that anyone stupid enough to do something like this will be stupid enough to talk about it and someone else will come forward."

Neighbors bought the family new flags. "I went by later that morning, Saturday morning, and there must have been 200 flags that had been brought in and reposted," Dickey said.

The car belonged to the sister-in-law of Hines. Fairfield is in Butler County, 13 miles north of Cincinnati.

[Blimpie]

There is gonna be a special place in hell reserved for those responsible....