Costa Mesa remembers 9/11

More than 150 people, including city officials and public safety personnel, gathered at Costa Mesa City Hall on Friday morning in remembrance of the 14th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the East Coast.

Fire Chief Dan Stefano and Police Chief Rob Sharpnack, who co-organized the event, were among the morning’s speakers.

“We were attacked simply because we believe in freedom and democracy,” Sharpnack said, according to the city’s Facebook posting on the event. “We certainly will remember these folks forever.”

Fourteen years ago, militants hijacked four airliners, flying two into the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York City and a third into the Pentagon, near Washington, D.C. The fourth plane crashed in a field in Pennsylvania.

Nearly 3,000 people were killed.

—Bradley Zint

Twitter: @bradleyzint