ATLANTA — The GBI agent who directed an evacuation of Centennial Olympic Park before a bomb exploded 30 years ago says security guard Richard Jewell first called his attention to the backpack that had the bomb inside.
Now-retired Agent Tom Davis told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Mark Winne that he believes their actions together helped save many lives.
“When the bomb exploded, it was a very forceful blast,” Davis said. “It actually forced me to the ground.”
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Alice Hawthorne died from the bombing and many more were injured. Davis says as bad as that was, he fears it could have been much worse.
He says Jewell alerted him to some young people throwing beer cans, so they went to investigate.
“Richard looks at the front of the tower where a bench was placed, and he told me, he said, ‘One of them must’ve left that backpack right there.’ And I turned and looked, and there was a green colored Army backpack that was underneath the bench right in front of the tower. And then Richard turned to me immediately and just looked at me and said, ‘How do you wanna handle this situation?’” Davis recalled.
He says he followed protocol and called an FBI/ATF Bomb Diagnostic Team that deemed it somewhat suspicious and told Davis to evacuate people from the immediate area.
“While we were setting up the perimeter, in the process of that...the bomb exploded,” Davis said.
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Davis added that part of the tragedy was Jewell himself being the subject of scrutiny for the bombing, though he was later exonerated.
“He called me and he said, ‘Man, you know, I didn’t, I didn’t have anything to do with any of that.’ And I said, ‘Richard, I said the truth will come out,’” he recalled.
Davis says he did what he was trained to do that night and Jewell did his job too.
“He absolutely did his job,” Davis said. “And to be quite frank with you, I probably wouldn’t have even noticed that bag under there had he not called my attention to it.”
Davis said when he got home, he found shrapnel had pierced the pocket of his pants and gotten stuck in the case that held his badge.
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