| Transcript from WABC-TV 7 Morning News. |
[23 Aug 2010|10:38am] |
Standing alone on a street corner that has been blocked off with police tape in every direction, the familiar face of WABC-TV 7 news’ early bird reporter, Serena Blansett fidgets with a piece of rolled-up paper between her hands. The faded light of early dawn fills the scene behind her, another scene that has grown familiar to those who follow Blansett’s early morning stories: disarray. In front of a gray building, a fountain, or what is left of one, features two statues shaking shaking hands amicably over an empty basin. One nods an official welcome to the other, which is shorter by at least a foot--and this is probably because the second statue no longer has its head. Tiny bits of rubble litter the surrounding sidewalks. Blansett’s name is printed neatly at the bottom of the screen, along with her location--U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES.
BLANSETT: At roughly 2:30 AM this morning, downtown police reported the sound of an explosion outside the New York City immigration building. As you can see, the fountain behind me, which was erected in the name of peace between U.S. citizens and foreigners residing in America since eleven-seventeen, was the object of the attack. An attack which left the immigrant statue now headless.
Motivation has yet to be determined, although one of these statues appears to have been tagged with a symbol now familiar to many New Yorkers.
A second video feed cuts in, this one a close up of the back of the headless statue and said symbol, which is a spray painted image of this symbol. We return to the first feed, and see our erstwhile reporter just as she wipes a harried expression from her face.
BLANSETT: Investigators have not yet released security footage from the USCIS building, but sources report cameras have captured two, unidentified males planting the explosive. We will have more on this story as it unfolds. This is Serena Blansett for WABC news.
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