4th Atlanta Pipe Bomb Explosion Raises Speculation on Serial Bomber

The weekend bombing of a predominantly lesbian nightclub--the fourth pipe bomb explosion here in seven months--has raised the specter of a serial terrorist stalking Atlanta.

The three targets--an outdoor concert during the Summer Olympics, an abortion clinic last month and now the nightclub--bear few obvious links. But authorities say the similarities cannot be overlooked. The most glaring parallel is that twin bombs were planted at both the nightclub and the abortion clinic.

“This is eerily reminiscent of last summer and last month,” Mayor Bill Campbell said Saturday. “We clearly believe that we are dealing with a deranged killer, but one who is very clever as well.”

Five people were injured in the Friday night explosion at the Otherside Lounge in northeast Atlanta. All but one of the victims were treated and released from area hospitals. One woman remained hospitalized in stable condition Saturday. The injuries ranged from shrapnel wounds to pain in the ears from the loud explosion.

The double bombing at the building that housed the abortion clinic last month caused no life-threatening injuries either. But a massive pipe bomb explosion in Centennial Olympic Park in July killed one woman and injured more than 100. A second person died of a heart attack linked to the explosion.

Witnesses said about 150 people were in the nightclub when the bomb exploded shortly before 10 p.m. EST Friday in a rear patio area, spewing nails and shrapnel into the club and across the dance floor.

“Several customers thought a lady had been shot,” said bartender Rhonda Armstrong, who was mixing drinks when she saw a flash and heard an explosion. “She rolled her sleeve up and had a spike nail through her arm.”

The first emergency call to the police reported that there had been a shooting. But when the city’s SWAT team arrived, officers spotted a knapsack in the club’s parking lot that contained a second bomb.

They used a remote-controlled robot to retrieve and safely detonate the device.

The area near the club was still sealed off Saturday as local and federal officials continued to recover shrapnel and other debris.

A similar two-bomb strategy was used at the suburban abortion clinic that was bombed Jan. 16. After the first bomb drew investigators, medical personnel and reporters to the scene, a second, more-powerful blast occurred in the building’s parking lot. Authorities said it likely would have caused fatalities had cars not been parked beside the device.

“They will be worked as separate investigations, but we all recognize that there are similarities here,” said Woody Johnson, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Atlanta office. “We will be searching out the possibility that we have a serial bomber.”

Officials said a federal task force investigating the abortion clinic explosions will take over the nightclub bombing, joined by a team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms arriving from Washington. A separate team has been looking into the Olympic park blast since July.

Although authorities are investigating the possibility that the bombings are linked, some local gays and lesbians said they fear that Friday’s blast may have been spurred by hatred of homosexuals.

“Maybe this was something to scare us, to put us in our place,” said gay activist Lynn Cothren, who added: “We will not let this bomb or any kind of hate send us back into the closet.”

Lesbian-rights activists in Washington condemned the bombing and urged the Justice Department to investigate the attack as a bias-motivated crime. “Hate clearly is a possible motive in these crimes and must be investigated as such,” said Elizabeth Birch, executive director of Human Rights Campaign, the nation’s largest lesbian and gay political organization.

The activists said the bombing underscores the need to include sexual orientation in federal statutes against hate crimes, which cover crimes directed against people because of their race, religion, national origin or disability.

Although only one bomb was planted at Centennial Olympic Park, it bore at least one similarity to the bomb found outside of the club Friday: They both were placed inside knapsacks. The devices in all three incidents contained nails.

The FBI has said the device that exploded during the Olympics may have been the most powerful pipe bomb ever exploded in America. They have speculated that a warning phone call placed to the police before the explosion was intended to lure authorities to the scene, suggesting that the bomber wanted to kill law enforcement officials. Several state agents were injured in the blast.

No arrests have been made in any of the explosions, although authorities said they are investigating a number of suspects in the Olympic bombing. Anyone with information about the bombings is asked to call (888) ATF BOMB.

For months after the Centennial Olympic Park explosion, authorities focused most of their attention on a security guard whom they later cleared of wrongdoing.

In recent months they have broadened their search, questioning witnesses again and appealing to anyone who took photographs in the park or who saw anyone with a green knapsack to come forward.

“We will work this thing aggressively,” Johnson said of Friday’s bombing. “We will put the amount of resources that are necessary to solve this into the case.”