ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, December 10, 1996 TAG: 9612100115
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-4 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: ATLANTA
SOURCE: Associated Press
More than four months after the Olympic bombing, the FBI posted a $500,000 reward Monday and for the first time played a tape of the 911 warning call, hoping someone might recognize the man's deep, slow voice.
One-time suspect Richard Jewell, meanwhile, reached an undisclosed cash settlement with NBC over his claim that news anchor Tom Brokaw implied he was guilty of the bombing that left two dead and hundreds injured. NBC said it agreed to the settlement to protect confidential sources.
The FBI's deputy director, Weldon Kennedy, denied that investigators are at a dead end, and said the agency has made a ``lot of progress.'' He said investigators believe people have photos, videos or other information that may identify the bomber or bombers.
FBI officials played the 911 recording three times. A transcript of the call, in which the man warns ``There is a bomb in Centennial Park. You have 30 minutes,'' had been released shortly after the July 27 bombing.
The tape wasn't released earlier because the caller apparently disguised his voice, Kennedy said, ``and we felt in the earlier stages of this that we did not have enough information to provide.''
The bombing killed one spectator and injured more than 100 others during the early-morning concert at the crowded Centennial Olympic Park. A Turkish cameraman rushing to the scene died of a heart attack.
Jewell, a security guard, was first called a hero for discovering the knapsack that contained the pipe bomb just before the blast. The 40-pound bomb was designed to injure as many people as possible, Kennedy said. Luckily, concert-goers had knocked the bag over.
``When the bomb went off, the majority of the blast went skyward instead of laterally or parallel to the ground,'' Kennedy said. ``Had it been left in place, we would have seen a huge number of casualties and many, many, many more people killed and injured than what actually occurred.''
Displaying a replica of the bag, Kennedy said someone, somewhere has a photograph of ``a person carrying this bomb into the park.''
Jewell was the only named suspect for three months before he was cleared Oct. 26. ``You have to question why 41/2 months after this bombing they seem to be'' still without a suspect, said his lawyer, Wayne Grant. ``The answer is obvious - they wasted three months focusing on an innocent man.''
The FBI's toll-free telephone number for the public to call with tips on the case: 1-888-324-9797.
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