Olympic Park Bombing Fast Facts

CNN Editorial Research
Updated 9:23 PM EDT, Thu July 9, 2020
Convicted "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski terrorized the country with a series of mail bombs over nearly two decades. The Harvard graduate killed three people and wounded 23 others prior to his arrest in 1996. Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 and is serving a life term in the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Click through to read about other attacks carried out by Americans on American soil.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
Convicted "Unabomber" Ted Kaczynski terrorized the country with a series of mail bombs over nearly two decades. The Harvard graduate killed three people and wounded 23 others prior to his arrest in 1996. Kaczynski pleaded guilty in 1998 and is serving a life term in the federal supermax prison in Florence, Colorado. Click through to read about other attacks carried out by Americans on American soil.
Oklahoma City was the site of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil before September 11, 2001. The 1995 bombing of the state capital's federal building left 168 dead. Timothy McVeigh, a white supremacist anti-government activist and former U.S. soldier, was executed for the attack in 2001. Terry Nichols was convicted as a co-conspirator and is serving a life sentence.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
Oklahoma City was the site of the worst terrorist attack on U.S. soil before September 11, 2001. The 1995 bombing of the state capital's federal building left 168 dead. Timothy McVeigh, a white supremacist anti-government activist and former U.S. soldier, was executed for the attack in 2001. Terry Nichols was convicted as a co-conspirator and is serving a life sentence.
A bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park during the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996. One person was killed, another person died from a heart attack, and 111 others were injured. Eric Robert Rudolph was captured in Murphy, North Carolina, in May 2003 after one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history. He pleaded guilty to the Olympics bombing and to the 1998 bombing of a family planning clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed a police officer and two 1997 bombings at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub in Georgia. He is serving four consecutive life sentences plus 120 years for the convictions.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: Reuters/Landov/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
A bomb exploded in Centennial Olympic Park during the Summer Games in Atlanta in 1996. One person was killed, another person died from a heart attack, and 111 others were injured. Eric Robert Rudolph was captured in Murphy, North Carolina, in May 2003 after one of the largest manhunts in U.S. history. He pleaded guilty to the Olympics bombing and to the 1998 bombing of a family planning clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, that killed a police officer and two 1997 bombings at an abortion clinic and a gay nightclub in Georgia. He is serving four consecutive life sentences plus 120 years for the convictions.
Letters written with jihadist language and laced with deadly anthrax spores were sent via U.S. mail to members of the news media and Congress in the weeks following the September 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Five people were killed and 17 others were sickened by exposure to the letters. The FBI eventually blamed the attacks on a civilian scientist at the Army's biological research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The suspect, microbiologist Bruce Ivins, had a history of mental illness and killed himself in 2008 before investigators brought charges against him, federal prosecutors said.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
Letters written with jihadist language and laced with deadly anthrax spores were sent via U.S. mail to members of the news media and Congress in the weeks following the September 11 attacks on New York City and the Pentagon. Five people were killed and 17 others were sickened by exposure to the letters. The FBI eventually blamed the attacks on a civilian scientist at the Army's biological research laboratory at Fort Detrick, Maryland. The suspect, microbiologist Bruce Ivins, had a history of mental illness and killed himself in 2008 before investigators brought charges against him, federal prosecutors said.
Scott Roeder was convicted for the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic in Wichita, Kansas, where late-term abortions were performed. Tiller was shot to death in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita as Sunday services began. Roeder was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 50 years.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: mct/landov/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
Scott Roeder was convicted for the 2009 murder of Dr. George Tiller, who operated a clinic in Wichita, Kansas, where late-term abortions were performed. Tiller was shot to death in the foyer of Reformation Lutheran Church in Wichita as Sunday services began. Roeder was sentenced to life in prison without parole eligibility for 50 years.
In 2009, James von Brunn shot security officer Stephen Tyrone Johns with a rifle at the entrance to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington after Johns had opened the door for him. Other security guards then shot von Brunn, authorities said. Von Brunn died in 2010.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: AFP/Getty Images/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
In 2009, James von Brunn shot security officer Stephen Tyrone Johns with a rifle at the entrance to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington after Johns had opened the door for him. Other security guards then shot von Brunn, authorities said. Von Brunn died in 2010.
Andrew Joseph Stack III, 53, an Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service, set his house on fire and then crashed a small plane into a building that housed an IRS office with nearly 200 employees. Stack and one other person died in the 2010 attack.
Photos: Americans attacking Americans in recent years
PHOTO: Reuters/Landov/file
Americans attacking Americans in recent years —
Andrew Joseph Stack III, 53, an Austin, Texas, resident with an apparent grudge against the Internal Revenue Service, set his house on fire and then crashed a small plane into a building that housed an IRS office with nearly 200 employees. Stack and one other person died in the 2010 attack.
(CNN) —  

Here is a look at the 1996 Olympic Park Bombing in Atlanta.

Facts

Two people died and more than 100 others were injured as a result of a bombing at the 1996 Summer Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Alice Hawthorne, 44, of Albany, Georgia, was killed by the explosion. Turkish cameraman Melih Uzunyol died of a heart attack as he rushed to film the scene.

Eric Robert Rudolph was convicted of placing the bomb, filled with nails and screws, in Centennial Olympic Park.

Timeline

July 27, 1996 - An anonymous 911 call warns that a bomb will explode in Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta, during the Olympic Games. The caller says: “There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes.” The call is later determined to have been made from a pay phone near the park. Twenty-two minutes later, at 1:25 a.m. (some sources say 1:20 a.m.), a 40-pound pipe bomb explodes.

July 30, 1996 - Centennial Olympic Park reopens.

July 30, 1996 - Quoting an unnamed source, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution names security guard Richard Jewell as a suspect in the bombing. Jewell was initially praised as a hero for discovering the backpack that held the bomb and alerting the Georgia Bureau of Investigation to it. Jewell denies any role in the bombing.

October 26, 1996 - The US Justice Department announces that Jewell is no longer a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing.

February 2, 1998 - Rudolph is named as a suspect in the Olympic Park bombing.

October 14, 1998 - Rudolph, also a suspect in a bombing at an abortion clinic in Alabama, is formally charged in connection with the Olympic Park bombing.

November 15, 2000 - Rudolph is simultaneously indicted by federal grand juries in Atlanta and Alabama, on a total of 23 charges. The indictments formalize charges previously filed against Rudolph for the Olympic Park bombing and two other bombings in the Atlanta-area – at an abortion clinic and a nightclub – as well as a bombing at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama.

May 31, 2003 - Rudolph is captured and arrested in Murphy, North Carolina, by rookie police officer Jeff Postell.

April 13, 2005 - Rudolph pleads guilty to the Birmingham, Alabama, abortion clinic bombing and the three Atlanta-area bombings, then releases an 11-page statement blaming the violence on the legalization of abortion.

August 22, 2005 - During his sentencing, Rudolph apologizes to his victims and their families for the Olympic Park bombing. Rudolph is sentenced to serve four consecutive life sentences plus 120 years in prison for the three Atlanta-area bombings. In July, Rudolph was sentenced to two life terms for the Alabama bombing.