Series of Reports Concerning an Explosion at an Abortion
Clinic in Birmingham, AL -01/29/98
EmergencyNet News *FLASH* Report
01/29/98 - 10:00CST
Explosion at Abortion Clinic in Birmingham, Alabama
By C. L. Staten
Birmingham, AL (EmergencyNet News)--Few details are being confirmed by local police
sources about a suspected bombing at an abortion clinic in Birmingham this morning.
Preliminary details would suggest that at least one person has been killed and that two
others are believed wounded in the blast. Police said they received only one call in
regard to the incident, at approx. 07:33 (local).
Media reports have been received of a "secondary device" at a location remote
from the first detonation, but those facts were not confirmed by officials at 10:00CST
press conference. A one mile perimeter has been established around the address of the
original scene, that reportedly occurred at 1001 17th Street-South. The FBI, BATF, and
Birmingham police have flooded the area, and an intensive search continues in that area.
Police denied that they have any suspects at the the time of this report.
EmergencyNet News continues to gather information about this incident and will provide
additional reports as more become available.
From EmergencyNet News "Instant Update" News Ticker -- 01/29/98
Chicago, IL--Analysts at ERRI today expressed their concerns about the possibility of
additional attacks at family planning facilities in coming days. 'If historical patterns
serve us correctly, there may be additional clinic attacks, as there were last year,' Sr.
analyst Clark Staten said today in a private briefing for police officials
ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Friday, January
30, 1998 Vol. 2 - 030
ESR CLOSE UP
ONE KILLED IN BOMBING OF ABORTION CLINIC
By Paul Anderson, ERRI Analyst
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA (EmergencyNet News) - The first person ever killed in a bombing of an
abortion clinic in the United States died on Thursday morning. The bombing came only a
week after the 25th anniversary of the Supreme Court ruling that legalized abortion.
Thursday's bomb exploded outside the New Woman All Women Clinic in this northern Alabama
city Thursday, killing a security guard and critically wounding a clinic employee.
Jim Cavanaugh, special agent with the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said,
"This was a vicious, wicked and diabolical act. It was a smaller device intended to
kill or injure."
The Birmingham News was reporting that police are looking for a man in a wig who was seen
fleeing the area after the explosion. A witness saw the man remove the wig as he ran and
drop it into a blue bag.
Investigators have questioned an anti-abortion protester who was across the street when
the blast occurred. The protester was said to be often seen outside the clinic.
The FBI said the bomb apparently was in a package. It detonated at about 0730 EST just
outside the main clinic entrance, leaving a large hole where it was placed and damaged the
entrance and windows of the clinic.
"The IED maker(s) probably got a good layout and conducted preoperative surveillance
and notation of people arriving and leaving," said Paul Copher, ERRI Counterterrorism
Analyst-at-large. "It may be that although the IED went high order just as someone
was opening the place up, thought must be given that the device may have detonated late --
if cold weather the batteries sometimes run late -- and was to be a deadly looking device
that was to explode prior to anyones arrival."
Killed by the blast was 35-year-old Robert Sanderson, a Birmingham police officer who
moonlighted as a guard at the clinic located near the University of Alabama at Birmingham
campus. He had just arrived for his shift when the bomb went off.
A 41-year-old a nurse and counselor at the clinic suffered extensive injuries to her legs,
abdomen and face, including the loss of an eye. She was reported to be in critical
condition after undergoing ten hours of surgery.
Despite reports, no other bombs were found in Birmingham on Thursday.
The bomb exploded about 30 minutes before the clinic usually opened. In January of 1997,
two bombs went off an hour apart at an abortion clinic in Atlanta, wounding seven people,
all in the second blast. Atlanta is located about 150 miles from Birmingham. The Atlanta
case remains unsolved.
Members of a task force investigating the Atlanta clinic case as well as the bombing at
the 1996 Olympics and at a gay nightclub went to Birmingham on Thursday to see if there
was a connection.
All materials above (c) Copyright, EmergencyNet NEWS
Service, 1998. All Rights Reserved. Redistribution without permission is prohibited by
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