This story was reported by Rajvi Desai and Ivan Pereira. It was written by Nicole Brown.
The victims of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing were honored Monday, 25 years after the terrorist attack.
Six people were killed and more than 1,000 were injured on Feb. 26, 1993, when terrorists set off explosives inside a van in the parking garage under the north tower.
Families of the victims — John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado and Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was pregnant at the time — gathered near the north pool at the 9/11 Memorial Plaza for the annual ceremony. A moment of silence was held at 12:18 p.m., the time the bomb went off.
Lisa Knapp, the daughter-in-law of Stephen Knapp, was at the ceremony with her husband and their two daughters, 11 and 9.
“I unfortunately never got to meet him,” she said of her father-in-law. “My daughters never got to meet him, but they’ve heard great stories about him.”
Patrick Rodriguez, 56, who is the brother of Monica Rodriguez Smith, said he comes to every anniversary ceremony.
“We are going to keep coming here until my wheels fall off my bike,” he said. “It doesn’t bring closure, but it shows respect for the people who passed away and helps us remember.”
The attack, which made Americans aware of the dangers of international terrorism, “served as a reminder that we must always be vigilant,” said Rick Cotton, the executive director of Port Authority.
“We’re sorry for that day. We are sorry for your loss that has stayed with you for the past 25 years,” Port Authority Chairman Kevin O’Toole said. “We were not ready for what visited us that day. For that we are sorry.”
