Part of a longtime bronze statue at Friends School has been stolen, Nothern District police said. The statue sits on the upper school plaza on the campus at 5114 N. Charles St.

Made by the noted local sculptor Bart Walter, 53, a Friends graduate whose studio is located in Westminster, the statue is called "Friends." It shows a boy reading to a girl — both sitting on stacks of books — and includes a lacrosse stick among other sports items.

Someone stole the lacrosse stick between 10:30 p.m. July 14 and 6:30 a.m. July 15, police said.

The statue was dedicated in 1998 to retiring 38-year headmaster Byron Forbush, Friends School spokeswoman Heidi Blalock said.

Blalock also cited a possibly related incident of grafitti a day earlier at Friends and the nearby School of the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen, including grafitti in the plaza at Friends where the statue is located. Blalock said she did not know the nature of the grafitti or whether it was found on the statue itself.

Walter said he hopes Friends students weren't involved, but, "When you install something on a school campus, there's the possibility that someone will cause mischief."

He said the lacrosse stick is replaceable, because, "There's a mold for it."