A metal star falling from a Chicago church tower dislodged part of a gargoyle on the way down, killing a woman walking along the street with a friend.
The Associated Press reported the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office as identifying the victim as 34-year-old Sara Bean.
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Police say the masonry fell from the landmark Second Presbyterian Church around noon Thursday and struck Bean in the head. The mother of two young boys was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
Building Department spokeswoman Mimi Simon said the star at the top of the church’s tower fell off, removing the head of a gargoyle, and the masonry crashed to the street. The building has failed inspections in the past, but passed inspection in 2013.
The church, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, was where Mary Todd Lincoln and Marshall Field worshipped.
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