Jump to content

Otherside Lounge bombing

Coordinates: 33°48′32″N 84°21′58″W / 33.809°N 84.366°W / 33.809; -84.366
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Otherside Lounge bombing
Part of terrorism in the United States and violence against LGBT people in the United States
Location1924 Piedmont Road
Atlanta, Georgia, United States
DateFebruary 21, 1997
TargetOtherside Lounge
Attack type
Bombing, attempted mass murder
WeaponPipe bomb
Deaths0
Injured5
PerpetratorEric Rudolph

The Otherside Lounge bombing was a domestic terrorist pipe bombing attack that occurred on February 21, 1997, in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. At approximately 9:45 p.m., a bomb exploded at the Otherside Lounge lesbian bar that damaged the building and destroyed several cars in the parking lot. While no one was killed, five people were injured, including one critically injured patron. The bombing had been carried out by Eric Rudolph, a serial bomber who had previously committed the Centennial Olympic Park bombing in 1996 that was responsible for two deaths, and he had targeted the nightclub due to his strong opposition to the gay rights movement.

In the aftermath of the bombing, investigators were able to link the bombing to the Centennial Olympic Park bombing and to a nearby bombing of an abortion clinic. Several months later, following a bombing of an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, officials were able to link Rudolph to all four bombings and, following a largescale manhunt, he was arrested in 2003 and sentenced to life in prison in 2005. The nightclub, which had been in operation since 1990, never fully recovered from the incident and closed two years after the bombing.

Bombing

[edit]

The Otherside Lounge was a nightclub located on Piedmont Road in northeast Atlanta that catered primarily to lesbians and other LGBT patrons[1].[2][3] At approximately 9:45 p.m. on the night of February 21, 1997, a bomb located on the outdoor patio of the nightclub exploded. Initially, several people inside the bar believed that a woman had been shot, but they realized that the event had been an explosion after the woman showed that a nail from the bomb had pierced her arm. While there were no fatalities, several people were injured, with The New York Times reporting that "at least five people" had suffered injuries from the blast. At least 100 people were in the nightclub at the time of the incident.[1] The explosion damaged the building and destroyed several cars in the parking lot.[4] Police arrived shortly after the explosion and discovered a second bomb inside a backpack hidden in some bushes in the nightclub's parking lot.[2] The police bomb squad used a robot to detonate this second bomb, which left a crater in the parking lot. At the time, it was thought that this second bomb could have been timed to explode after the initial bomb explosion.[1]

Aftermath

[edit]

Only one patron was seriously injured and was immediately taken to Grady Memorial Hospital, where she was treated for her injuries and recovered shortly thereafter.[5] The woman had been wounded by a nail that had severed her brachial artery; speaking later of the incident, she stated, "I almost bled to death in the bar".[6] In total, five people were injured by the explosion.[2] On the morning of February 23, Atlanta city officials and the Federal Bureau of Investigation held a news conference wherein Special Agent Woody Johnson of the FBI's Atlanta office noted similarities between the nightclub bombing and previous bombing incidents in the area, including at an abortion clinic in Sandy Springs, Georgia on January 16, 1997, and at Centennial Olympic Park on July 27, 1996 (Centennial Olympic Park bombing).[1] At both the nightclub and the abortion clinic, two bombs had been placed at the scene and presumably timed to detonate some time apart from each other.[7][8] Additionally, Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell and Atlanta director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Jack Killorin both expressed concern that the events may have all been perpetrated by a serial bomber. In the immediate aftermath, law enforcement put up crime scene tape and blocked traffic along Piedmont Road to search for clues.[1] On February 25, the tape was removed and the street was reopened to traffic. Additionally, cars that had been left at the parking lot since the explosion were released.[5] During the initial aftermath of the event, Mayor Campbell outed one of the victims, who shortly thereafter lost her job because of that.[9][10]

Terrorist groups claim responsibility

[edit]

Shortly after the explosion, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Reuters, WSB-TV, and NBC's Atlanta office received letters purportedly sent by a member of the Army of God, an anti-abortion Christian terrorist group, who claimed responsibility for the attack.[11] In the letter, the group detailed their militant opposition to homosexuality and abortions and threatened "total war" against the U.S. federal government. The group also claimed responsibility for the previous bombing of the abortion clinic. A February 25 article from CNN stated that the brother of the club's owner was a doctor who previously performed late-term abortions, though the club owner claimed that she saw no connection between that and the club bombing.[2] In addition to the Army of God, on February 22, a voicemail was left at the Phoenix, Arizona-based Gay Community Yellow Pages that claimed that the Los Angeles-based Sons of Confederate Klan (a neo-Nazi group) had been responsible for the attack.[2][5] At the time, the FBI did not release a comment regarding the claims, but a CNN article published on February 25 stated that the Army of God was the "apparent focus" of their efforts at that time.[5] Additionally, Atlanta Chief of Police Beverly Harvard stated that they were not ruling out the possibility of a serial bomber or a copycat bomber.[2] In a June 10 press conference, investigators expressed confidence in the belief that the abortion clinic, nightclub, and park bombing were all perpetrated by the same bomber.[11]

Eric Rudolph

[edit]

In January 1998, another bombing occurred at an abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama, killing one person. Shortly thereafter, Eric Rudolph became the prime suspect for that bombing, and further forensic evidence linked him to the bombings in the Atlanta metropolitan area the previous year.[12] In May 1998, investigators reported that Rudolph had been charged for the Birmingham bombing and was wanted for questioning regarding the Atlanta bombings.[13] By December 1998, based on forensics analysis of the Atlanta bombings, Rudolph was further charged with those bombings as well. At the time, Rudolph was still on the run, and, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, "the object of one of the largest sustained manhunts in FBI history".[14] In November 2000, grand juries officially indicted Rudolph for the bombings.[15] On May 30, 2003,[16] Rudolph was arrested in Murphy, North Carolina.[17][18] On June 2, he appeared before a Federal judge.[6] In April 2005, Rudolph admitted to committing all four bombings as part of a plea bargain where he would avoid the death penalty, instead being sentenced to four life sentences in prison. Rudolph claimed that he had targeted the Otherside Lounge because he believed that the gay rights movement was "a direct assault upon the long-term health and integrity of civilization"[19] and that, while he did not mind closeted homosexuality, he believed that societal acceptance of it "should be ruthlessly opposed".[20]

Otherside Lounge

[edit]

The nightclub reopened within a week of the bombing, but attendance remained significantly lower than before the incident.[4] According to a 2017 article from The Georgia Voice, "Between the loss of cashflow, equity and paying for renovations, the bombing cost Beverly [one of the owners of the nightclub] about $5.8 million."[9] In addition, the nightclub was subject to about 20 lawsuits, mostly from former patrons, and while the club won every case, having to attend to the cases took a toll on the owners.[9] Due to this, as well as the small payout by the nightclub's insurance, the Otherside Lounge closed about two years after the bombing.[4] The nightclub had been in operation since 1990.[9][21]

The building that housed the nightclub is located in the same strip mall as the Gold Massage Spa, one of the spas targeted in the 2021 Atlanta spa shootings.[22][23]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b c d e Sack, Kevin (February 23, 1997). "In Latest Atlanta Bombing, 5 Are Injured at a Gay Bar". The New York Times. p. 18. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 3, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Owner of bombed club says investigation 'looking good'". CNN. February 25, 1997. Archived from the original on February 26, 2016. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  3. ^ Freeman, Scott (July 1, 2011). "Fallout: An Oral History of the Olympic Park Bombing". Atlanta. Archived from the original on December 4, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  4. ^ a b c Hart, Ariel (September 3, 2016). "Atlantans reflect on 1997 bombing following Orlando gay club massacre". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Archived from the original on April 10, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  5. ^ a b c d Jamieson, Russ (February 25, 1997). "'Army of God' apparent focus of bombing probe". CNN. Archived from the original on September 6, 2005. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  6. ^ a b "Rudolph faces two trials". The Advocate. June 3, 2003. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  7. ^ Kim, Lillian Lee (June 13, 2016). "Atlanta gay community reacted with alarm, outrage at 1997 bombing". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  8. ^ Bonvillian, Crystal (March 19, 2018). "Serial bomber Eric Rudolph targeted Olympics, gay club, abortion clinics". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Cox Enterprises. Archived from the original on April 17, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  9. ^ a b c d Duncan, Dallas (February 16, 2017). "Coming out on the other side: 20 years after Atlanta LGBT bar bombing, Otherside Lounge owners, patrons revisit dark day". The Georgia Voice. Archived from the original on March 17, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  10. ^ Panter, Heather (June 16, 2016). "You're rarely safe being LGBT+ in the American South – even from the police". The Conversation. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  11. ^ a b Sack, Kevin (June 10, 1997). "Officials Link Atlanta Bombings and Ask for Help". The New York Times. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  12. ^ Sack, Kevin (February 28, 1998). "Suspect in Southern Bombings Is Enigma". The New York Times. p. 1. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  13. ^ Sack, Kevin (May 6, 1998). "Suspect in Clinic Explosion Is Sought in Olympics Blast". The New York Times. p. 16. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on July 16, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  14. ^ "Eric Rudolph Charged in Bombings". Southern Poverty Law Center. December 15, 1998. Archived from the original on February 24, 2017. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  15. ^ "Grand juries indict suspected bomber Eric Rudolph". CNN. November 15, 2000. Archived from the original on October 2, 2010. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  16. ^ "Events in Rudolph's life". CNN. May 31, 2003. Archived from the original on March 5, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  17. ^ Gettleman, Jeffrey (June 1, 2003). "Suspect in '96 Olympic Bombing And 3 Other Attacks Is Caught". The New York Times. With David M. Halbfinger. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on June 8, 2021. Retrieved July 16, 2021.
  18. ^ Ellingwood, Ken; Braun, Stephen (June 1, 2003). "Olympic Bombing Suspect Captured". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on May 18, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  19. ^ Barry, Ellen; Jarvie, Jenny (April 14, 2005). "Rudolph Admits Bombing '96 Olympic Park, Clinics". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  20. ^ Stack, Liam (June 13, 2016). "A Brief History of Attacks at Gay and Lesbian Bars". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on May 5, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  21. ^ "Administrative History: LGBTQ Heritage Initiative". National Park Service. April 9, 2019. Archived from the original on April 5, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  22. ^ Holcombe, Madeline; Sayers, Devon M. (March 19, 2021). "2 adjacent buildings. 2 horrific attacks. 24 years apart". CNN. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved July 15, 2021.
  23. ^ McLaughlin, Kelly (March 22, 2021). "The owner of an LGBTQ bar that was bombed in Atlanta 2 decades before the spa shootings sees similarities between the attacks". Business Insider. Insider Inc. Retrieved July 15, 2021.

Further reading

[edit]

33°48′32″N 84°21′58″W / 33.809°N 84.366°W / 33.809; -84.366