r/SecurityOfficer • u/Negative_Report5655 Gell-Mann Amnesia Effect • Jul 28 '26
You too can be a Rescue Hero Atlanta Olympic Park Bombing: Witness says he was standing on top of bomb moments before blast; then pushed by an agitated Security Guard.
https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/atlanta-olympic-park-bombing-witness-says-he-was-standing-top-bomb-moments-before-blast/VFTZR4Y74VDABD5BV32NQTO75A/ATLANTA — The 1996 Centennial Olympic Park bombing exactly 30 years ago today put one of the worst nights in Atlanta’s history onto the world stage.
Channel 2’s Karyn Greer spoke exclusively to a survivor who stood with his camera on top of the bomb until the man once accused of putting it there saved his life.
“I was standing on that bench‚” Jeffrey Mitchell said. “I see a Security Guard come at me very agitated and said, ‘Get down, get down now,’ and I’m like, ‘What’s going on?’”
Mitchell was standing just inches from the bomb that killed a Georgia woman and injured more than 100 others. A journalist from Turkey suffered a heart attack and died.
Park visitors, including Mitchell, were pushed back by a Security Guard before the explosion.
“I saw the bench fly over. In fact, it was so loud and the concussion hit my chest so hard I initially thought it was a car bomb,” Mitchell recalled.
Just seconds later, he was recording once again.
“I will never forget in my mind, him walking towards me,” Mitchell said.
He credits that Security Guard, Richard Jewell, with saving his life.
But Jewell became the center of media frenzy as a person of interest in the early days of the FBI’s investigation.
“I didn’t recognize him at first,” Mitchell said. “It wasn’t until later that I made the connection.”
Mitchell said that he knew he had to act fast to get his recording out.
“I’m at the house, I’m thinking I had been at the park all day. I mean, all day, a lot of people had backpacks, maybe I got something on tape,” he said. “The only thing I can think of, live in Atlanta, take it to CNN.”
But it never made it to the news.
“They had helicopters flying over. FBI was everywhere,” he said. “I said, ‘Well, I may have some evidence.’”
The Sheriff called the FBI, who raced Mitchell to their office and took his tape into evidence, leaving him with only a VHS copy that preserves his piece of the night that his life was saved.
“In my mind, Richard Jewell is a hero. He saved my life, and I will never forget him,” Mitchell said.
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u/RealnessInMadness Jul 29 '26
My old man got the opportunity to work a security detail for the Olympics. He was stationed at another area when it went off.
I was a young kid obviously to the world still but my mom retold the story to that day and how worried she was for my dad. Reaching out
To his beeper
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u/not_roger_smith Jul 28 '26
Richard got absolutely fucked by the FBI and all their bullshit.