Saturday marked the 29th anniversary of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing that killed six people and injured more than 1,000. First responders and families of the victims gathered at the 9/11 Memorial on Saturday morning to commemorate the anniversary with a moment of silence, a reading of the names, and by placing of flowers on the memorial. 

On Feb. 26, 1993, an Islamic terrorist cell set off 1,200 pounds of explosives in the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage. The detonation created a five-story crater and 4,000 tons of rubble, leaving thousands stranded for hours. The rescue effort was the largest in New York City history at the time. Eight years later, the same first responders underwent an even larger rescue effort after terrorists destroyed the towers on September 11th, 2001. 

Port Authority employees Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, William Macko, and Monica Rodriguez Smith were killed in the 1993 attack. Two others, John DiGiovanni and Wilfredo Mercado also died. When she was killed, Rodriguez Smith was pregnant. 

At the remembrance ceremony, the Port Authority Police Department Honor Guard watched over the names of their fallen colleagues and the other victims. Earlier in the day, the Port Authority held a commemorative mass at St. Francis of Assisi Church in Manhattan featuring remarks from New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy and former Port Authority administrator Charles Maikish, who oversaw the World Trade Center’s reconstruction after the 1993 bombing.

“They were beloved family members, friends, colleagues, and community members. And their legacies live on in all who remember them,” Gov. Murphy said in a pre-recorded message. “On February 26, 1993, the towers stood firm and proud, a sign of the strength and resilience of good over evil.”