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<v Speaker 1>Imagine you're walking through the park one day and you

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<v Speaker 1>see a suspicious backpack sitting underneath a bench. You report

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<v Speaker 1>it to the police, and upon investigation, they discovered two

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<v Speaker 1>live pipe bombs inside. You rushed clear the area before

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<v Speaker 1>they explode, saving countless lives and preventing injury. Everyone declares

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<v Speaker 1>you a hero for a fleeting moment, until everything changes

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<v Speaker 1>and you are declared the prime suspect. This was the

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<v Speaker 1>story of security card Richard Jewell after the Centennial Park

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<v Speaker 1>bombing killed one person and wounded more than one hundred.

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<v Speaker 1>Public pressure and a media witch hunt pushed a desperate

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<v Speaker 1>FBI to find a suspect. Despite obvious holes in the

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<v Speaker 1>case and unethical tactics used by the FBI to get

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<v Speaker 1>Jewel to confess, he was found guilty. In the newest

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<v Speaker 1>season of Generation Y, the Olympic Park Bombing, hosts Aaron

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<v Speaker 1>and Justin explore the aftermath of the nineteen ninety six

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<v Speaker 1>Centennial Olympic Park bombing. Listen as they delve into the

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<v Speaker 1>details of the case, the sway of public opinion, and

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<v Speaker 1>the identity of the real killer, who, after a year's

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<v Speaker 1>long manhunt, was apprehended through pure luck and was found

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<v Speaker 1>to be responsible for other bombings across the United States.

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<v Speaker 1>I'm about to play a clip from Generation Why the

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<v Speaker 1>Olympic Park bombing. Follow Generation Why on the Wondery app

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<v Speaker 1>or wherever you get your podcasts.

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<v Speaker 2>Wonder we just went through an Olympics. But the case

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<v Speaker 2>we're talking about today, it involves the nineteen ninety six

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<v Speaker 2>Olympic Games. And to give you some idea of what

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<v Speaker 2>was happening at the time, the first Motorola flip phone

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<v Speaker 2>is on the market, and the beloved Forensic Files has

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<v Speaker 2>premiered on television. And on July nineteenth, nineteen ninety six,

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<v Speaker 2>in Atlanta, Georgia, the world celebrated one hundred years of

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<v Speaker 2>the Summer Olympic Games.

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<v Speaker 3>So a week later, on July twenty sixth, we have

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<v Speaker 3>over fifty thousand people gathered for this free concert at

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<v Speaker 3>Atlanta's Centennial Olympic Park. It's twenty one acres. The Olympic

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<v Speaker 3>Park was open to all visitors to walk through and

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<v Speaker 3>explore and enjoy the music. And at around midnight, the

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<v Speaker 3>band Jack Mack and the Heart Attack went on break

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<v Speaker 3>And this is where things get interesting.

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<v Speaker 2>Yeah, there was a man named Richard Jewell who was

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<v Speaker 2>working security in Olympic Park during the early morning hours

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<v Speaker 2>of July twenty seventh, seven college aged intoxicated guys wandered

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<v Speaker 2>over to two park benches near the control tower. Five

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<v Speaker 2>on one bench and two on the other. Now, they

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<v Speaker 2>pulled out some Budweisers from a large cooler bag, and

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<v Speaker 2>that caught the attention of Richard Jewell. He's working security,

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<v Speaker 2>so he flagged down Tom Davis, who was a Georgia

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<v Speaker 2>Bureau of Investigations agent GBI, and asked for assistance. The

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<v Speaker 2>men left the area, and after they did, Jewel's looking

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<v Speaker 2>around and he sees a military style backpack under one

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<v Speaker 2>of the benches. Now, of course this group they catch

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<v Speaker 2>up to him. They want to know, hey, did you

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<v Speaker 2>leave this bag behind? And they're saying, we didn't leave

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<v Speaker 2>anything behind. Now, Jewel and Davis then rule this as

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<v Speaker 2>a suspicious package because it's been left behind, and the

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<v Speaker 2>GBI agent Tom alerted the bomb squad at around twelve

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<v Speaker 2>forty five am. Richard Jewell also notified his supervisor, Bob Airing.

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<v Speaker 3>And there's an interview with Richard who says the GBI

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<v Speaker 3>officer was looking at this bag and moving his flash

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<v Speaker 3>lad around and when he froze. That's when I knew

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<v Speaker 3>this was a bad thing and they needed to call

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<v Speaker 3>in the bomb squad.

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<v Speaker 2>So they clear a perimeter. While the bomb squad arrives

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<v Speaker 2>and the bag is inspected, one squad member crawled under

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<v Speaker 2>the bench, looking inside it with a pen light, and

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<v Speaker 2>then slowly crawled back. According to this squad member, the

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<v Speaker 2>bag contained wires and a clock, making a large pipe bomb.

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<v Speaker 2>A bomb expert opened the knapsack and identified the object

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<v Speaker 2>inside as a forty pound pipe bomb filled with nails.

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<v Speaker 3>So they're evacuating the premises. Davis and Erring focused on

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<v Speaker 3>clearing out the crowd directly in front of the knapsack.

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<v Speaker 3>Airing made sure not to use words like bomb because

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<v Speaker 3>he didn't want to cause any panic. The crowd mostly

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<v Speaker 3>cooperated and moved back. Richard went up to the NBC

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<v Speaker 3>sound tower and had to tell the tech crew working

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<v Speaker 3>there to get out. He came back outside to try

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<v Speaker 3>to evacuate more people, but some refused to comply and

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<v Speaker 3>stayed at their benches near the tower. They didn't want

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<v Speaker 3>to lose their seats, I guess. At twelve fifty eight am,

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<v Speaker 3>nine point one received a call from a telephone booth

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<v Speaker 3>about five blocks away from the park. A man and

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<v Speaker 3>on the line stated there is a bomb in Centennial Park.

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<v Speaker 3>You have thirty minutes, and about twenty minutes later, as

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<v Speaker 3>Jack Mack and the heart Attack finish their song I

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<v Speaker 3>Walk Alone, the bomb exploded.

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<v Speaker 1>You can listen to Generation Y the Olympic Park bombing

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<v Speaker 1>ad free right now by joining Wondery Plus in the

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<v Speaker 1>Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.