Bell
Hear ATF agent Don Bell describe Wednesday's shooting incident in Andrews, North Carolina AIFF or WAV (394 K / 30 sec. audio)

November 12, 1998
Web posted at: 6:47 p.m. EST (2347 GMT)

ANDREWS, North Carolina (CNN) -- Federal agents are trying to find out who fired several shots from a rifle into a command post in western North Carolina where agents are coordinating their search for bombing suspect Eric Rudolph.

While no one was injured during the Wednesday night incident, an agent standing in the command post's radio room at the time "had the shot go through his hair," said Don Bell of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.

"Another agent who was standing nearby was also extremely close to the shot as it went past them both and through another wall," he said.

Rudolph

While agents have expressed fears in the past that Rudolph might target them, "we have developed no information to connect Eric Rudolph with the shooting incident," said FBI agent Terry Turchie.

The shots were fired from about 300 yards from the command post building. Agents did not return fire. While there are fields nearby, the facility is in a residential section of Andrews, a town of about 2,500 people.

"Residents around the area and others in the community have already come forward to help us locate whoever did this shooting, but we are not in a position to discuss any other details of the incident," Bell said. "We are working with the Andrews Police Department in conducting a further investigation."

FBI and ATF agents were checking the scene and looking at videotapes from surveillance cameras in an attempt to determine the source of the gunfire.

Rudolph is wanted for questioning in the1996 Olympic Park bombing

Agents hope falling leaves lead to Rudolph

Agents are in western North Carolina searching for Rudolph, who has been charged with bombings of a women's clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, and three blasts in Atlanta, including one during the 1996 Olympics. Two people have died in those attacks, and more than 120 people have been injured.

Rudolph, 32, a carpenter by trade and an experienced backwoodsman, spent much of his childhood in western North Carolina. Federal agents believe he is hiding in the rugged, heavily forested terrain.

A federal task force investigating the bombings has intensified its efforts to find Rudolph. Its members are pinning their hopes on falling leaves, which provided Rudolph with cover to elude authorities over the summer.

"The combination is good because while all the leaves are completely off the trees, we believe he is moving because he needs more food," a task force official said Wednesday. The official would comment only under the condition of anonymity.

With the trees shedding their foliage, agents hope they will be better able to use high-tech equipment to search for Rudolph. Searchers are concentrating their efforts on a remote area in Macon County near the Nantahala community. It is near Rudolph's boyhood home and a house where he got food and other supplies in July.

Armed agents and vehicles containing tracking dogs were seen in the area, which is lined with streams and cliffs.

Authorities said they would boost the manhunt from the current 100 to 200 agents once leaves have fallen.