Witnesses questioned in fatal clinic bombing

Unconfirmed witness report of man fleeing the scene

January 30, 1998
Web posted at: 3:31 a.m. EST (0831 GMT)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama (CNN) -- Federal investigators and police are questioning anti-abortion protesters and other witnesses who saw Thursday's bomb explosion at a women's clinic that killed a security guard and severely injured a nurse.

It was believed to be the first fatal clinic bombing in U.S. history.

The Birmingham News reported Friday that authorities were searching for a man in a wig after a witness reported seeing the man fleeing the scene after the explosion. The witness told police the man removed his wig as he ran and dropped it into a blue bag, the newspaper reported.

Police have not confirmed the report. Investigators said that a number of witnesses were being questioned but that there were no immediate suspects.

Off-duty officer dies

The blast ripped through the New Woman, All Women Health Care Clinic at 7:33 a.m., shattering the windows in the two-story facility, blowing away an awning and leaving black smudge marks on the gray brick structure. The clinic offers family planning counseling and abortion services.

A robot searches the area for additional explosives

The victims in the blast were identified as an off-duty Birmingham police officer, who was moonlighting at the clinic as a security guard, and a nurse who worked at the clinic, said Birmingham Police Lt. Donald Toole.

The clinic is near the campus of the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Students living in UAB dormitories were awakened by the blast, and two dorms were evacuated for a short time while authorities searched for a second device using a robot. By mid-afternoon, they had not found another bomb.

Investigators from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were dispatched from Atlanta to investigate the blast and determine if it might be linked to a series of bombings in Atlanta during the last 18 months, one of which was aimed at a women's clinic.

In the wake of Thursday's bombing, women's clinics in Alabama and Atlanta increased security.

Explosion heard for miles

A demonstration held Saturday outside the Birmingham clinic

"It felt like lightening had hit the building," said student Lindsey Thompson. Witnesses reported smoke coming out of the clinic after the blast.

"It sounded like a truck hit the side of the building," said Cindy Wallace, who works near the clinic.

A pharmacist in the area who witnessed the blast, Anthony Romeo, said he received calls from friends in Homewood, several miles away, saying they had heard the explosion.

A block away, the force of the impact "knocked stuff off the wall" at a similar facility, the Summit Medical Care clinic, said Michele Wilson, a clinic volunteer.

A regular anti-abortion protester at the New Woman clinic was across the street when the explosion occurred and was questioned, said David Lackey, leader of an anti-abortion group who went to the scene. He called the explosion a "heinous act."

Alabama Gov. Fob James also denounced the bombing.

"If, in fact, today's explosion is the result of a bomb, I cannot think of any more cowardly and reprehensible act," said James. He offered "any and all state assistance" to solve the crime.

Clinic on Roe anniversary protest route

The New Woman clinic has been operating for 11 years and has been at its present site for four years. An anti-abortion march on Saturday, in observance of the 25th anniversary of the Roe v. Wade court decision that legalized abortion, went past the clinic.

The clinic that was bombed was one of four Alabama abortion providers that have sued to overturn two new state laws that restrict late-term abortions. On Monday, a federal judge in Montgomery refused the clinics' request to put the laws on hold until the case is resolved.

Though five people have been shot to death at such clinics since 1993 and a number of clinics have been bombed over the years, the death in Birmingham is believed to be the first fatality ever from a clinic bombing.

"This is the first death that we have seen from a bombing of an abortion clinic," said Vicki Saporta, director of the National Abortion Federation, an abortion rights group. ATF spokesman B.J. Zapor also said there had been no deaths from bombings since the bureau began tracking clinic violence in 1982.

Links to other bombings explored

News conference by federal officials in Atlanta
ATF agent James Kavanaugh describes the bomb
	519K/23 sec. AIFF or WAV sound

A year ago, two bombs were placed outside a women's clinic in the Atlanta suburb of Sandy Springs, going off an hour apart. Seven people were injured in the second blast, which investigators say they believe may have been designed to kill and injure law enforcement officers responding to the first bomb.

A month later, two other bombs were found at a lesbian nightclub in Atlanta. One exploded, injuring several bystanders. Police found the second bomb and detonated it. A group calling itself the Army of God claimed responsibility, but no arrests have been made.

FBI and ATF officials have said there are some similarities between those bombings and a blast at Centennial Olympic Park in Atlanta during the 1996 Olympic Games, which killed one woman and injured more than 100 other people.

A special FBI task force set up to investigate the Atlanta bombings will be looking to see if there is a connection to Thursday's blast in Birmingham, which is about 150 miles to the west.

"We don't know yet. We just don't have enough details to really have a gut feeling," said FBI Special Agent Jack Daulton, head of the task force.

Special Section:

• Roe vs. Wade: 25 Years Later

Related stories:

• 1 dead, 1 critical in clinic bombing - January 29, 1998
• Explosion hits women's clinic in Alabama - January 29, 1998
• Teen arrested in Tulsa clinic bombings - February 6, 1997
• Explosion reported near D.C. Planned Parenthood clinic - January 22, 1997
• Explosion damages Atlanta family planning clinic - January 16, 1997

Related sites:

Note: Pages will open in a new browser window

• Birmingham Post-Herald
• Jefferson County Sheriff's Department
• U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms

External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.

---

 

---

Sound off on our message boards & chat

© 1998 Cable News Network, Inc.
A Time Warner Company
All Rights Reserved.

Terms under which this service is provided to you.
Read our privacy guidelines.