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City officials in Firestone removed a child's memorial from a park

A child's memorial was removed in Firestone - while the family was out of town. They say no one let them know this was happening.
Daniel Sutton died strangled by a corded window blind. Members of the community helped the Sutton's get a memorial in his honor. It's now gone.

A child's memorial has been removed from Harney Park in Firestone. It happened over the weekend while the boy's family was out of town.

Daniel Sutton was killed by a corded window blind 8 years ago and members of the community helped the Sutton's get a memorial in his honor.

Years later, the board of trustees in Firestone passed an ordinance to force all the memorials to have similar characteristics, including the Sutton's memorial.

Town representatives and the family had been in talks about what the new memorial would look like, but before those conversations were finalized, the family says, the memorial disappeared.

Trent John and his son were the Sutton's neighbors when Daniel died. They helped get the memorial for Daniel.

John says the decision to remove the memorial has divided the community.

"Our heart was here as a community and it just got ripped out," John says. "It was at the hands of our leaders."

He says he understands that rules are rules, but he says he believes town could have handled the situation differently with the family.

"In everyone’s pursuit to be justified, they forgot to be kind," said John.

John and the Sutton's are now looking for accountability. "Be in touch with the community that you serve because you’re not in touch with us," said John as he mentioned the upcoming town elections.

We reached out to the town of Firestone and Town Manager Bruce Nickerson. Jennifer Weinberger, Assistant Town Manager, said they're working on a statement.

The town tells 9NEWS they plan to place another memorial where the old one was.

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