WEBVTT - The Eyes of the World 0:00:00.840 --> 0:00:04.359 Flashpoint is released weekly and brought to you absolutely free, 0:00:04.800 --> 0:00:09.080 but for ad free listening, early access and exclusive bonuses. 0:00:09.440 --> 0:00:13.480 Subscribe to tenderfoot Plus at tenderfootplus dot com or on 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:14.480 Apple Podcasts. 0:00:17.239 --> 0:00:20.759 You're listening to Flashpoint, a production of tenderfoot TV and 0:00:20.840 --> 0:00:25.200 association with iHeartMedia. The views and opinions expressed in this 0:00:25.239 --> 0:00:29.360 podcast are solely those of the individuals participating in the podcast. 0:00:30.080 --> 0:00:33.159 This podcast also contains subject matter which may not be 0:00:33.280 --> 0:00:36.519 suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised. 0:00:41.920 --> 0:00:45.960 Space Jaman fourth is independ instead. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.360 The first night of the one hundredth anniversary of the 0:00:54.360 --> 0:00:57.880 world's greatest sporting event, and no birthday party ever had 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:04.760 an invitation list White Light Welcome to Atlanta's Olympic Stadium. 0:01:04.800 --> 0:01:07.720 Well, the Olympics were in Atlanta in nineteen ninety six, 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:10.880 and it was a really big gig for us. I 0:01:10.920 --> 0:01:13.640 mean there was I don't know, forty fifty sixty thousand 0:01:13.720 --> 0:01:15.759 people every night in Centennial Park. 0:01:17.160 --> 0:01:20.319 Bill Bergman and Andrew Kastner are two members of the 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.320 band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack. They were slated 0:01:23.319 --> 0:01:25.319 to perform ten nights in a row at the ninety 0:01:25.360 --> 0:01:29.119 six Olympics Center stage the gig of a lifetime. 0:01:29.959 --> 0:01:33.800 We rehearsed a special show just for that Olympic gig, 0:01:34.000 --> 0:01:38.600 and every night we would come on after Travis Tritt 0:01:38.800 --> 0:01:43.000 or Kenny Rodgers or all kinds of different people, and 0:01:43.200 --> 0:01:45.880 we would play eleven at night to one in the morning. 0:01:47.200 --> 0:01:49.680 But the sixth night of their run would be their last. 0:01:50.920 --> 0:01:55.200 There was a lot of security to get backstage. 0:01:55.400 --> 0:01:58.559 They ran us through inter pole. I mean I played 0:01:58.640 --> 0:02:04.200 saxophone and the guy literally looked down my horn through 0:02:04.240 --> 0:02:05.520 the tube. 0:02:06.240 --> 0:02:09.799 But anybody could get into the audience. I don't even 0:02:09.840 --> 0:02:11.399 know if there was any security at all. 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.160 Well no, I mean you had fifty thousand people wearing 0:02:15.200 --> 0:02:19.960 their backpacks into that park, and it was a ginormous stage, 0:02:20.000 --> 0:02:23.880 and they had these two caterpillar looking things on each 0:02:23.919 --> 0:02:27.120 side of the stage that were one hundred and fifty 0:02:27.120 --> 0:02:29.840 feet long on one hundred feet up in the air, 0:02:29.960 --> 0:02:33.440 and that's where they would show the videos. We were 0:02:33.480 --> 0:02:37.600 seven stories up and we're playing our set and we're grooving, 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.720 I mean, everything is just perfect. 0:02:41.120 --> 0:02:42.880 And then we were getting towards the end of the 0:02:42.960 --> 0:02:47.160 set and we did an original song called I Walked Alone, 0:02:47.320 --> 0:02:51.320 And it was right after the song ended and our 0:02:51.560 --> 0:02:54.840 lead singer started announcing the next song. 0:03:00.560 --> 0:03:04.480 Oh yeah, are you still out there? Yeah, that's what 0:03:04.520 --> 0:03:06.679 I'll talk about. So we got caught it to the 0:03:07.360 --> 0:03:08.040 sun comes up. 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.840 But you know what, see what about now we had them, 0:03:13.000 --> 0:03:13.440 we have the. 0:03:13.360 --> 0:03:20.200 Privilege of working with this season, and that's when the 0:03:20.200 --> 0:03:20.880 bomb went off. 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:26.600 We just froze in place. The whole band just froze. 0:03:27.080 --> 0:03:30.359 We didn't know what to do, and then somebody came 0:03:30.440 --> 0:03:32.360 up to us and said we got to get out 0:03:32.440 --> 0:03:32.959 of the park. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:39.000 It was instantaneous pandemonium, like the world rarely sees. 0:03:41.560 --> 0:03:45.920 Some ideas are so explosive they changed the world, but 0:03:46.080 --> 0:03:50.320 sometimes they jeopardize the very ground we stand on, leaving 0:03:50.400 --> 0:03:55.760 ordinary lives in their wake, rippling out for generations. I'm 0:03:55.760 --> 0:04:18.920 Cola Cassio and this is Flashpoint, Episode one, the Eyes 0:04:18.960 --> 0:04:28.880 of the World. In the summer of ninety six, Atlanta 0:04:28.960 --> 0:04:32.440 was booming, known the world over for products like Coca 0:04:32.440 --> 0:04:33.279 Cola and CNN. 0:04:33.800 --> 0:04:36.000 Atlanta was a bustling hub of Americana. 0:04:36.839 --> 0:04:39.040 We were the mecca of hip hop, the home of 0:04:39.080 --> 0:04:43.200 the braves, and that summer we were hosting the Centennial 0:04:43.200 --> 0:04:44.279 Olympic Games. 0:04:45.279 --> 0:04:47.919 Ten years ago, bringing the Olympics to this city was 0:04:47.960 --> 0:04:51.279 the improbable, some would say lappable motion of a local 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:54.640 real estate lawyer and former Georgia football player Billy Payne. 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:58.200 But pain is from an ambitious city where grand notions 0:04:58.200 --> 0:04:59.039 are not dismissed. 0:05:00.200 --> 0:05:01.920 Now has its games, and it. 0:05:01.839 --> 0:05:05.280 Also has its opportunity to find itself for the world. 0:05:06.640 --> 0:05:07.720 Atlanta is unique. 0:05:08.360 --> 0:05:11.400 It's not movie famous like New York or la It's 0:05:11.400 --> 0:05:14.480 not a city people dream of living in. It's hot, 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:18.880 the traffic sucks, the bugs bite, it's a little bit shitty, 0:05:19.240 --> 0:05:20.320 but in all the right ways. 0:05:21.480 --> 0:05:23.640 It's a place where I just think people can be themselves. 0:05:25.200 --> 0:05:28.320 Earlier this year, I found myself downtown just past midnight, 0:05:28.680 --> 0:05:31.120 standing in line and wrapped around the block with hundreds 0:05:31.120 --> 0:05:34.120 of other people. We were there to listen to Andrey 0:05:34.120 --> 0:05:36.880 three thousand play a flute for two hours, and people 0:05:36.880 --> 0:05:40.360 were dressed to the nines. I'm talking suits, velvet, kashmir, 0:05:40.440 --> 0:05:43.279 you name it. It felt like a true homecoming for 0:05:43.320 --> 0:05:45.880 someone who helped put our city on the map. And 0:05:45.920 --> 0:05:48.560 when he took the stage, the first thing he said was, 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:53.000 it's good to be back home. Atlanta is my home. 0:05:53.880 --> 0:05:57.920 I was born here, I grew up here. I always 0:05:57.960 --> 0:06:00.240 thought I'd move away to some other big city. I 0:06:00.279 --> 0:06:02.920 tried that, but I ended up finding my way back, 0:06:03.520 --> 0:06:04.880 and I grew into myself here. 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:07.799 For reasons you'll come to understand. 0:06:08.279 --> 0:06:10.560 I've always been obsessed with the bombing at the Olympics, 0:06:11.880 --> 0:06:14.840 the ripple effects of that summer, everything that happened in 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:18.000 the following years, all the lesser known parts of the story. 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:21.760 But back in ninety six, with the eyes of the 0:06:21.760 --> 0:06:25.240 world on Atlanta and millions of people descending on the 0:06:25.279 --> 0:06:28.599 city too busy to hate, we had finally arrived in 0:06:28.640 --> 0:06:30.000 the world stage. 0:06:30.240 --> 0:06:31.000 It was our time. 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.240 As an anchor reporter. For thirty seven years, I covered 0:06:39.320 --> 0:06:43.480 all kinds of things. My name is Monica Kaufman Pearson. 0:06:44.240 --> 0:06:47.520 I am a former reporter and anchor with WSB Television, 0:06:47.800 --> 0:06:52.720 and I was there in September nineteen ninety when they said. 0:06:52.800 --> 0:06:58.719 The International Olympic Committee as awarded the nineteen ninety six 0:07:00.120 --> 0:07:04.000 games to the city off at. 0:07:08.760 --> 0:07:12.920 And I can still see to this day, Mayor Maynard 0:07:13.000 --> 0:07:17.920 Jackson rubbing his hands through his hair and just grinning 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:23.920 from ear to ear. The place just broke out, I mean, screams, tears, 0:07:24.040 --> 0:07:26.600 jumping up and down because the committee had been working 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.080 on this for such a long time. 0:07:30.600 --> 0:07:34.160 People went bonkers. I'm Keent Alexander. 0:07:34.240 --> 0:07:36.480 I was the United States Attorney in the Northern District 0:07:36.520 --> 0:07:39.520 of Georgia, so technically that made me the chief federal 0:07:39.600 --> 0:07:44.160 law enforcement officer. During the Olympics, I was an underground 0:07:44.160 --> 0:07:47.800 Atlanta where they had big monitors, and they had hundreds 0:07:47.800 --> 0:07:50.760 and hundreds of people. None of us could really believe it, 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:54.200 and there was just massive celebration. 0:07:54.360 --> 0:07:56.240 Was the first thing in the morning. Many of the 0:07:56.280 --> 0:07:57.960 front page versions. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:00.720 Of the Atlantic Constitution had this icon on a huge 0:08:00.800 --> 0:08:04.720 tyke it's Atlanta than one of them actually said as 0:08:04.800 --> 0:08:08.680 a subtitle, city explodes in thrill of victory, which it 0:08:08.760 --> 0:08:09.880 turns out as ironic. 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:15.760 With a one point seven billion dollar price tag, the 0:08:15.800 --> 0:08:18.400 city of Atlanta had under six years to transform into 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:22.240 a worthy host city. The Olympics hosted millions of attendees 0:08:22.640 --> 0:08:27.720 and span twenty nine facilities, including five new venues, plus 0:08:27.960 --> 0:08:30.400 a brand new park in the middle of downtown to 0:08:30.440 --> 0:08:33.960 serve as a congregating spot for the general public, Centennial 0:08:34.000 --> 0:08:41.040 Olympic Park. On July nineteenth, the date finally arrived. Opening ceremonies, 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:45.160 the one where Muhammad ad Leave valiantly raises shaking torch 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:46.679 and lit up the night. 0:08:47.520 --> 0:08:56.600 I look it, Spohalid Ali. What apoment. 0:09:00.480 --> 0:09:03.240 But less than ten days after that iconic moment, the 0:09:03.280 --> 0:09:07.960 Games my home An America's sense of collective safety would 0:09:08.000 --> 0:09:12.120 crack wide open, and it only took one Southern nut 0:09:12.679 --> 0:09:20.720 to fuck it all up. July twenty seventh, nineteen ninety six, 0:09:21.559 --> 0:09:26.280 twelve forty five am. The music is blasting, people are partying, 0:09:27.080 --> 0:09:31.640 Everyone's enjoying themselves. At Centennial Park, Georgia, Bureau of Investigation 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.200 agent Tom Davis was walking next to the Light and 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:37.199 Sound Tower when he was approached by a local security guard. 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.760 I was approached by a young man named Richard Jewele, 0:09:42.320 --> 0:09:46.440 a security guard there for the NBC tower. Richard explained 0:09:46.440 --> 0:09:50.480 to me that he was having problems with intoxicated individuals 0:09:50.559 --> 0:09:54.000 throwing beer cans into the tower and we asked for 0:09:54.040 --> 0:09:56.559 some help. So I walked over to the front of 0:09:56.600 --> 0:10:00.840 the tower with Richard, and as we walked around to 0:10:00.920 --> 0:10:03.880 the front part of the tower, we observed a number 0:10:03.880 --> 0:10:08.880 of college aged individuals scooping up beer cans. They threw 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.560 the beer cans away and then basically just disappeared into 0:10:12.600 --> 0:10:15.760 the crowd. Richard and I walked back around to the 0:10:15.760 --> 0:10:18.480 front of the tower, and as we were standing there talking, 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.959 he looked down and pointed to an army top backpack 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:27.520 that was underneath the bench right in front of the tower, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:31.920 and he said to me that someone must have left 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.640 that backpack there, and then turned to me and asked 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:36.679 me how I wanted to deal with the situation. 0:10:40.760 --> 0:10:43.679 Then at twelve fifty eight am, a nine one one 0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.480 operator answered a call, A turn. 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:50.120 Of your bomb and nail park and you have a. 0:10:50.160 --> 0:10:54.679 Burning Here's an actual recording of the nine to one 0:10:54.760 --> 0:10:58.160 one operator trying to contact the Atlanta Police Department command center. 0:10:58.800 --> 0:11:02.880 First she got a bit signal, then after three minutes 0:11:03.280 --> 0:11:05.480 she finally got a dispatcher on the line. 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:08.280 I just got this man call talking about it because 0:11:08.320 --> 0:11:10.040 a bomb said to go out in thirty minutes to 0:11:10.080 --> 0:11:11.080 the Centennial Park. 0:11:11.600 --> 0:11:12.679 Oh lord, yea. 0:11:13.440 --> 0:11:15.680 At the time of the Games, many of the venues 0:11:15.720 --> 0:11:18.400 that had just been built specifically for the Olympics hadn't 0:11:18.440 --> 0:11:20.840 yet populated their way into the nine to one one database. 0:11:21.480 --> 0:11:23.880 So if you need to look it up, it simply 0:11:23.920 --> 0:11:24.439 wasn't there. 0:11:25.200 --> 0:11:29.040 It didn't exist, Okay, way apart, and you put it 0:11:29.040 --> 0:11:29.880 in and it won't go in. 0:11:30.120 --> 0:11:33.560 No, this is why information about the bomb threat never 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.920 made it to law enforcement at the park, where Tom 0:11:36.000 --> 0:11:38.000 Davis and Richard Jewel were still trying to figure out 0:11:38.000 --> 0:11:38.760 what to do next. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:41.720 So I told Richard we would just follow our protocol, 0:11:41.760 --> 0:11:44.200 and the first step in that protocol was to try 0:11:44.240 --> 0:11:49.360 to determine if anybody in the immediate area own the backpack. 0:11:50.120 --> 0:11:53.000 This was a very popular part of the park. There 0:11:53.040 --> 0:11:55.960 was a show going on at the time, and families 0:11:56.000 --> 0:11:59.680 would come, individuals would come and they would put lawn 0:11:59.760 --> 0:12:02.959 chair out there, they would put spread blankets out there. 0:12:02.960 --> 0:12:05.800 It's just a real grassy knoll area, right in front 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.640 of the NBC twwer. So we just started moving through 0:12:09.679 --> 0:12:13.040 that area talking to people and asking them if they 0:12:13.240 --> 0:12:17.120 owned the backpack that was under the bench by the tiwer, 0:12:17.200 --> 0:12:20.320 and of course no one claimed it. So after several 0:12:20.320 --> 0:12:23.520 minutes of doing that, the next step in our protocol 0:12:23.920 --> 0:12:26.840 is to call it in as a suspicious package. So 0:12:26.920 --> 0:12:30.040 I called our command post and told them what we had, 0:12:30.600 --> 0:12:35.200 and they dispatched a bomb diagnostic team to the area. 0:12:36.400 --> 0:12:40.440 Shortly after one am. The diagnostic team comprised of FBI 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:43.720 and ATF agents. We're dispatched to Tom and Richard's location. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:46.960 Here's Richard on sixty minutes. We'recalling. 0:12:47.000 --> 0:12:48.959 What happened when one of the ATF agents went to 0:12:49.040 --> 0:12:49.679 check out the back. 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:54.280 He crawled under the bench and with his pen light, 0:12:54.400 --> 0:12:57.360 he was laying flat on his stomach and he was 0:12:57.440 --> 0:12:59.360 undoing the top of the bag with his hand, and 0:12:59.400 --> 0:13:03.319 all of a sudden, he just froze and he tensed up, 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:06.920 and he just rolled out of the way. When he 0:13:07.040 --> 0:13:09.840 rolled out of the way, he jumped up and ran 0:13:09.960 --> 0:13:12.760 over to the other agents that were standing about ten 0:13:12.800 --> 0:13:16.800 feet away. What really made me think this is bad 0:13:17.640 --> 0:13:20.200 is there was like a little line in training that 0:13:20.240 --> 0:13:22.320 they taught you, and it was if you see an 0:13:22.320 --> 0:13:36.680 ATF agent running, you better be in front of him. 0:13:36.840 --> 0:13:37.040 You know. 0:13:37.040 --> 0:13:39.719 I was just a rookie. It's a rookie cop. And 0:13:39.760 --> 0:13:41.960 we graduated just in time for the Olympics. We were 0:13:42.000 --> 0:13:44.160 considered the Olympic class, so they were trying to rush 0:13:44.679 --> 0:13:47.480 classes through because of course the Olympics was the biggest 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:51.000 sports event in the world. I fell into this cadence 0:13:51.000 --> 0:13:53.679 of fourteen hour shifts, six days a week, one day 0:13:53.720 --> 0:13:54.280 off a week. 0:13:55.480 --> 0:13:59.400 Vince Velaskaz recalls that late night in the park, even 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:02.280 though the clock just past midnight, the spectacle of the 0:14:02.280 --> 0:14:06.600 Olympics drew a staggering crowd of fifteen thousand individuals. They 0:14:06.640 --> 0:14:10.520 celebrated the day's victories and champions, blissfully unaware of the 0:14:10.559 --> 0:14:14.160 backpack that had just been found. Vince himself was a 0:14:14.160 --> 0:14:17.120 few mere blocks away, and news of the discovery had 0:14:17.120 --> 0:14:19.000 not yet made its way through the police radio. 0:14:20.880 --> 0:14:23.840 I'm in uniform. I've got a orange traffic vest on, 0:14:23.840 --> 0:14:26.280 because that's what we tried to where they wanted you 0:14:26.360 --> 0:14:28.560 to stand out and want people to know that you 0:14:28.640 --> 0:14:29.200 were police. 0:14:30.280 --> 0:14:34.160 The weather was good. I recall it was hot. It's July. 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.960 I remember that, and you know we bulletproof vest under 0:14:37.000 --> 0:14:39.280 your I mean, I'm just sweating bullets with a towel 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.640 on my neck. I remember being worn out. 0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:49.600 Yeah, there was a band playing. There were a lot 0:14:49.640 --> 0:14:53.360 of people, but I do you remember a very friendly atmosphere. 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:56.800 This is Mark McKay. He was a reporter for Seeing 0:14:56.840 --> 0:14:57.760 in Sports at the time. 0:14:59.080 --> 0:15:01.680 I was day to day working in evening shift. 0:15:01.760 --> 0:15:05.480 At that time, CNN had various sports programming half hour shows, 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:10.080 so we were preparing the sports cast, and then it 0:15:10.080 --> 0:15:13.800 started getting to be close to time to air. Well, 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:16.360 we weren't able to get into the Marietta Street entrance 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:18.160 to where we needed to get across to our live 0:15:18.160 --> 0:15:19.960 shop because we didn't have the right credential, So we 0:15:20.000 --> 0:15:22.360 basically we turned around and we ended up being on 0:15:22.360 --> 0:15:26.000 the perimeter of the park. My producer and I get 0:15:26.000 --> 0:15:29.240 on the other side of the AT and T Global 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:42.040 Village stage and this explosion happens. We felt it, you 0:15:42.040 --> 0:15:45.200 could feel it in your chest. And I looked up 0:15:45.240 --> 0:15:48.000 and I could see the smoke coming above the stage. 0:15:49.120 --> 0:15:51.600 I immediately thought, Wow, that was a heck of a 0:15:51.600 --> 0:15:55.960 way to end the show. Pyrotechnics producers are good. My 0:15:56.080 --> 0:15:59.560 producer Mike said, no, I think something bad just happened. 0:16:01.120 --> 0:16:04.680 The pressure from the bomb knocked me on my ass, 0:16:04.960 --> 0:16:08.480 like literally pushed me backwards. It rattles your brain. I'm 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:11.440 supposed to know what's going on, but I felt for 0:16:11.480 --> 0:16:15.280 a moment helpless. And then I hear screaming and people 0:16:15.440 --> 0:16:23.040 just screaming and running. I tell you, the chaos was indescribable. 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.360 I couldn't tell who was who. My gut told me 0:16:26.400 --> 0:16:33.280 something bad happened. Something intentional happened. It wasn't us, the 0:16:33.320 --> 0:16:35.960 good guys that did this. It's a bad person. 0:16:38.320 --> 0:16:42.440 I remember vividly security guards at one of the entrances 0:16:42.760 --> 0:16:45.080 to the park basically just telling people. 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:46.360 To get out, get out, get out, get out. 0:16:47.240 --> 0:16:49.200 So I make my way to the live shot location. 0:16:49.320 --> 0:16:51.400 Now the camera and the lights were already set up 0:16:51.440 --> 0:16:54.600 to go live anyway. I get to the top of 0:16:54.640 --> 0:16:59.680 the platform and putting my earpiece in and I'm told, hey, 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:01.360 we're going to have seen in breaking news. 0:17:01.840 --> 0:17:05.359 Hello everyone, I'm Andrea Zinga at the CNN Center in Atlanta. 0:17:05.560 --> 0:17:09.320 We have had word now of an explosion at the 0:17:09.440 --> 0:17:10.720 Centennial Olympic Park. 0:17:11.000 --> 0:17:11.720 We're going to. 0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:15.000 Go now to Mark McKay, who is live at Nike Park. 0:17:15.080 --> 0:17:15.359 Mark. 0:17:16.359 --> 0:17:16.840 Hello, Mark. 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:21.040 Our location is just north of the Centennial Olympic Park 0:17:21.280 --> 0:17:23.760 in the vicinity of About ten minutes ago, there was a. 0:17:23.680 --> 0:17:26.840 Loud, very conclussive explosion. 0:17:26.600 --> 0:17:29.720 That I contacted the command post and let him know 0:17:29.760 --> 0:17:31.960 that we had an explosion then that we needed help. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:35.520 I looked around and there was a lot of screaming, 0:17:35.920 --> 0:17:38.800 a lot of people that had been injured, and we 0:17:38.920 --> 0:17:41.960 just we just started trying to deal with the injuries. 0:17:41.960 --> 0:17:45.200 At that point, we're explaining in a couple of words, 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:46.760 I would just say outter chaos. 0:17:50.119 --> 0:17:51.120 They were about start. 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:53.000 A new song and then. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:55.080 You know, just a really loud, annoyed and there was 0:17:55.160 --> 0:17:55.960 some people bleeting. 0:17:56.000 --> 0:18:00.200 They were still hitting people. We were rushing people to medical. 0:18:03.880 --> 0:18:08.359 It was a regular news day. I literally was getting 0:18:08.400 --> 0:18:12.639 ready to go to bed when my phone brings and says, 0:18:12.680 --> 0:18:15.720 you've got to come back to the station. A bomb's 0:18:15.720 --> 0:18:19.440 gone off in Centennial Olympic Park. We're going right now 0:18:19.480 --> 0:18:21.480 to Mark engel Mark. What can you tell us? What 0:18:21.560 --> 0:18:23.399 have you seen? Who have you talked to? 0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:24.200 What happened? 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:28.200 Well, Monica, from what I understand from witnesses who've been 0:18:28.200 --> 0:18:32.520 interviewed here so far, a sound tower that's where the 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:33.640 explosion occurred. 0:18:33.880 --> 0:18:36.240 We had a lot of people say earlier that they 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.199 thought when the explosion occurred it was part of the music. 0:18:39.240 --> 0:18:42.520 I mean, in today's rock and roll era you have smoked. 0:18:42.840 --> 0:18:46.360 It was just it was just crazy, That's the only 0:18:46.400 --> 0:18:49.760 way to describe it. It was something you see in movies, 0:18:49.800 --> 0:18:54.480 but you never expect to see in your town, particularly 0:18:54.600 --> 0:18:59.879 during an event where everybody in the world is watching you. 0:19:00.240 --> 0:19:04.359 City and watching what's happening during the Olympics. It was 0:19:04.680 --> 0:19:18.000 definitely it just took your breath away. 0:19:16.400 --> 0:19:17.400 When the bomb went off. 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.560 The GBI, that's the Georgia Bureau of Investigation, swiftly jumped in. 0:19:24.240 --> 0:19:28.360 Retired agent Charles Stone remembers arriving on Sena and I. 0:19:28.320 --> 0:19:31.879 Heard one of my people on the radio call in 0:19:32.359 --> 0:19:35.920 saying there's been a mom a cent Unior Olympic Park. 0:19:36.240 --> 0:19:40.800 We have multiple officers now, so we jumped in my 0:19:40.880 --> 0:19:45.879 car and we got there relatively quickly, and you know, 0:19:45.920 --> 0:19:47.720 there were casual fleege everywhere. 0:19:49.000 --> 0:19:54.119 I remember an explosion. I remember seeing my mother turn 0:19:54.760 --> 0:19:58.000 to a complete three sixty, which is probably gonna be 0:19:58.119 --> 0:19:59.920 the most lasting memory out of all of it. 0:20:01.920 --> 0:20:04.560 This is Fallen Stubbs speaking to CNN in two thousand 0:20:04.560 --> 0:20:07.439 and one. At the time of the bombing, she was 0:20:07.480 --> 0:20:10.879 just fourteen years old. Fallen was attending the games with 0:20:10.920 --> 0:20:12.639 her mother, Alice Hawthorne. 0:20:13.520 --> 0:20:16.040 I saw my mother on the ground. I got up van, 0:20:16.119 --> 0:20:18.199 I ran to try to find her, help, try to 0:20:18.240 --> 0:20:21.880 find her anybody. Some people told me to lay down, 0:20:22.480 --> 0:20:24.960 get down, get down, and I was like, wait, my mother, 0:20:25.320 --> 0:20:28.640 And all I could remember was looking over and I 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:32.480 saw her, and I saw like twenty people around her, 0:20:32.560 --> 0:20:35.960 A lot of people, I guess, trying to resuscitate her. 0:20:36.960 --> 0:20:40.240 Fallen also sustained injuries in the bombing. Hers were not 0:20:40.320 --> 0:20:44.000 life threatening, but sadly, her mother, who had been struck 0:20:44.000 --> 0:20:48.200 by shrapnel, was killed by the bomb. Alice Hawthorne was 0:20:48.240 --> 0:20:52.040 forty four years old. All told, there were one hundred 0:20:52.040 --> 0:20:55.240 eleven injuries and one death as a direct result of 0:20:55.280 --> 0:20:55.919 the explosion. 0:20:57.960 --> 0:21:00.000 Lately, we've become strangely. 0:20:59.640 --> 0:21:02.960 Decent to these sorts of horrific events, with the mass 0:21:02.960 --> 0:21:06.919 shooting nearly every day, But this one's always stuck to me, 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:11.000 and every time there's another mass casualty, it brings me 0:21:11.080 --> 0:21:14.520 right back here, asking the same questions everybody was asking 0:21:14.600 --> 0:21:15.080 that summer. 0:21:15.920 --> 0:21:19.879 How could someone do that? And why how does a 0:21:19.880 --> 0:21:20.959 person get to that point? 0:21:36.920 --> 0:21:40.520 By daybreak, the news was global and the Centennial Olympic 0:21:40.560 --> 0:21:44.639 bombing was a national security concern. President Clinton addressed the 0:21:44.720 --> 0:21:46.320 nation in a White House press briefing. 0:21:47.520 --> 0:21:50.320 The bombing gets Centennial Olympic Park this morning was an 0:21:50.320 --> 0:21:55.359 evil act of terror, an active cowardice that stands in 0:21:55.440 --> 0:22:00.399 sharp contrast to the courage of the Olympic athletes. I 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:04.840 want to make clear our common determination. We will spare 0:22:04.880 --> 0:22:07.000 no effort to find out who was responsible for this 0:22:07.119 --> 0:22:10.880 murderous act. We will track them down, we will bring 0:22:10.920 --> 0:22:13.680 them to justice. We will see that they are punished. 0:22:14.359 --> 0:22:17.800 Let me say finally that an act of vicious terror 0:22:17.880 --> 0:22:22.959 like this is clearly directed at the spirit of our 0:22:22.960 --> 0:22:26.800 own democracy. It seeks to rip also at the spirit 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:31.040 of the Olympics. But we must not let these attacks 0:22:31.040 --> 0:22:35.000 stop us from going forward. We cannot let terror win. 0:22:35.480 --> 0:22:46.160 That is not the American way. 0:22:47.080 --> 0:22:50.640 With increased security contributes to the victims, the games would 0:22:50.680 --> 0:22:54.639 continue with only a few events delayed. As President Clinton 0:22:54.680 --> 0:22:57.400 thank the security personnel, the media took it a step 0:22:57.440 --> 0:23:02.000 further and crowned to hero guard Richard Jewel, who saved 0:23:02.000 --> 0:23:04.760 countless lives when he found and reported the abandoned back. 0:23:06.240 --> 0:23:08.920 It was a pretty glorious time for him. 0:23:09.600 --> 0:23:12.400 I was excited and even a little honored to meet 0:23:12.440 --> 0:23:13.880 him because I had heard he was the one who 0:23:13.920 --> 0:23:16.760 found the bomb. It was so clear that had that 0:23:16.800 --> 0:23:21.639 bomb not been identified early on, and spectators hadn't been 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:24.400 pushed away by the hundreds, that there would have been 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:28.560 massive casualties. So all right, just shook his hand and 0:23:28.600 --> 0:23:31.320 said thank you. He was saying, I'm just doing my job. 0:23:35.440 --> 0:23:38.600 I just happened to be at the right place at 0:23:38.640 --> 0:23:41.359 the right time and did the job that I was 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:44.640 trying to do. The only thing I wish we could 0:23:44.680 --> 0:23:48.040 have done was got everybody out of the area. I 0:23:48.080 --> 0:23:53.800 feel for the victims and their families, and I mean, 0:23:53.880 --> 0:23:55.840 this is the Olympics. It's supposed to be a time 0:23:55.880 --> 0:23:59.880 of joy for the world, and it's very very bad. 0:24:01.160 --> 0:24:04.000 While the events were tragic, the outcome could have been 0:24:04.520 --> 0:24:08.600 much worse. In addition to Richard Jewles's quick actions, there 0:24:08.640 --> 0:24:11.880 was another group of unsuspecting heroes. A group of young 0:24:11.960 --> 0:24:15.000 men coming from the Speedo tent slightly moved the backpack 0:24:15.040 --> 0:24:18.480 containing the bomb. The FBI would later name this group 0:24:18.800 --> 0:24:23.119 the Speedo Boys. According to Agent Charles Stone, the shifting 0:24:23.119 --> 0:24:24.560 of the bag made a huge difference. 0:24:25.320 --> 0:24:28.240 When they first saw the pack, they had thought it 0:24:28.280 --> 0:24:32.800 had sound equipment in it. They noticed it moved it. 0:24:32.920 --> 0:24:36.080 But the net effect of it they saved hundreds of 0:24:36.160 --> 0:24:40.760 lies because it was a directional bomb like a claymore. 0:24:41.320 --> 0:24:45.040 And what they did they tilted the bomb back so 0:24:45.320 --> 0:24:48.400 the majority of the frightened went way above the heads 0:24:48.440 --> 0:24:50.639 of everybody in the crowds and forth. If he had 0:24:50.680 --> 0:24:53.280