One of the biggest news events in Atlanta’s history occurred in 1996. That’s the year Atlanta hosted the Olympic Games.

The city was awarded The Games six years earlier and had built and remodeled extensively. Then the bombing happened. This article is going to clear up one and for all who did the bombing.

Who Did The Atlanta Olympic Bombing In 1996?

Who Was Killed In The Atlanta Olympic Bombing?

The Olympic bombing in Atlanta happened on Saturday, July 27, 1996. While scores of people wee injured, two people are officially determined as having been killed in the Olympic bombing.

  • Alice Hawthorne: The 44-year-old woman from Albany, Georgia suffered injuries from the blast in Centennial Olympic Park in downtown Atlanta.
  • Melih Uzunyol, a cameraman from Turkey, died from a heart attack attributed to the event moments after the explosion.

Intense media coverage

Who Committed The Atlanta Olympic Bombing?

Intense pressure was on federal officials to name a suspect in the bombing. Meanwhile, the media had begun doing vignettes of local heroes who had acted swiftly during the bombing.

Three days after the event, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution named a security guard — Richard Jewell as — as a suspect in the bombing. Jewell had earlier been mentioned as a hero for his fast actions in discovering a mysterious backpack.

He had maintained his innocence after a media frenzy swarmed his home and everywhere he lived for three months.

In October 1996, the FBI said that Jewel was no longer a suspect. By that time, federal officials had turned their attention to white supremacist groups.

Jewell sued several media outlets, including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and NBC, settling with both.

The following February, Eric Rudolph, 29, is named a suspect by federal authorities. Also a suspect in the bombing of an abortion clinic in Alabama, Rudolph began to draw heavy media attention.

The FBI said that it was Rudolph who made two anonymous 911 calls 30 minutes before the bombing in Centennial Olympic Park.

Where Is Eric Rudolph Now?

Rudolph has been in federal prison for more than 20 years. Today he remains locked up behind bars at the ADX Florence Supermax prison near Florence, Colorado.
 
Richard Jewell died 11 years after the bombing on August 29, 2007. He had been having complications due to diabetes. He was 44 years old.

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