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CNN Sunday Morning
Interview With Kimberly Krautter
Aired June 01, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We are joined now by a woman who felt the impact of the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. One person was killed and more than 100 were wounded when a pipe bomb exploded in the early morning hours on July 27, 1996.
Kimberly Krautter was conducting a photo shoot on the night of the bombing and she joins us now this morning.
Good morning, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY KRAUTTER, OLYMPIC PARK BOMBING WITNESS: Good morning.
NEVILLE: Take us back to that night, July 27, 1996, and describe the scene for us.
KRAUTTER: Well, the global Olympic village venue, where the bomb exploded, was a really exciting and rare opportunity for ticket holders and non-ticket holders and families of athletes and athletes, the entire world, to really cluster and join in the celebration of the Olympics and it was the first time that non-ticket holders and ticket holders were able to really get together and enjoy the Olympic experience.
So it was -- There was a sense of community at Olympic Park that had not been felt in other Olympics in the past.
NEVILLE: And then what happened to that sense of community?
KRAUTTER: It was shattered, quite frankly, in the immediate aftermath. I think the explosion, thank goodness, was not as devastating as it could have been, but certainly it was -- there was a tremendous sense of panic.
NEVILLE: Kimberly, tell me -- That's what I want to hear about. Describe that for me. I mean, I know it's been awhile and right now we're sitting here, you're poised, I understand that. But I'm trying to get back to that night.
KRAUTTER: Well, I had been on the third platform about 30 feet up in the air, doing the photo shoot and we had been ordered to get down, to evacuate.
NEVILLE: By Richard Jewell.
KRAUTTER: By Richard Jewell. He was the security guard at the tower and he was just very -- concerned about our safety and he didn't explain why. We were just told we needed to get off the tower, so we wrapped and we started moving out of the park and then the explosion happened.
NEVILLE: What were you thinking?
KRAUTTER: You know, quite frankly, there wasn't any kind of explanation, it seemed odd and we weren't sure, but when the explosion happened, certainly, that put everything into perspective immediately.
NEVILLE: And then what happened? Where were you?
KRAUTTER: Well, were actually moving already towards the parking lot at that point, so -- and the crowd started moving and there was a lot of confusion. And it was a slow ripple effect, actually, because a lot of people as you can see by the videotape that was taken, a lot of people even fairly close to the tower at the time were not really sure if that was part of the night's entertainment, you know, fireworks or something.
NEVILLE: Fireworks or something.
KRAUTTER: But once the panic of the injury started setting in, there was mass confusion.
NEVILLE: Having been there that night, how do you feel about the news yesterday, when you heard that potential suspect Eric Robert Rudolph had been captured?
KRAUTTER: Immediately, there was a sense of excitement and relief for the possibility of just coming to closure. It's been a very long time, and of course, the investigation was misdirected for several months, for over a year, really, and there was the possibility of this never getting solved.
So the first impression was that now we have a chance to really see what happened. But I think the most important thing that it symbolizes is that, you know, the people who live by ideas that are rife with intolerance and hate, I think this arrest symbolizes that those who would pursue objectives counter to the ideals of this country, they're not going to win.
And I think that that's given me some peace.
NEVILLE: Really? Each though you think that people who have that sort of mindset, it's really kind of hard to infiltrate them.
KRAUTTER: It is very difficult to infiltrate them, and I know having been in the Nantahala Forest, where he had apparently been living all this time, I kayaked up there, I've hiked. And I certainly was a little bit more leery about going up and enjoying the forest after he was at large and knowing that there were people in the communities up there who were giving him safe harbor.
You know, his arrest symbolizes that those people are -- might win battles, but they're not going to win the war. But they do exist and it's a fairly insidious part of our society. NEVILLE: Indeed. Kimberly Krautter, thank you very much for being with here this morning.
KRAUTTER: Thank you.
NEVILLE: Good to see you.
KRAUTTER: Thank you.
NEVILLE: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 1, 2003 - 08:03 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ARTHEL NEVILLE, CNN ANCHOR: We are joined now by a woman who felt the impact of the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta. One person was killed and more than 100 were wounded when a pipe bomb exploded in the early morning hours on July 27, 1996.
Kimberly Krautter was conducting a photo shoot on the night of the bombing and she joins us now this morning.
Good morning, Kimberly.
KIMBERLY KRAUTTER, OLYMPIC PARK BOMBING WITNESS: Good morning.
NEVILLE: Take us back to that night, July 27, 1996, and describe the scene for us.
KRAUTTER: Well, the global Olympic village venue, where the bomb exploded, was a really exciting and rare opportunity for ticket holders and non-ticket holders and families of athletes and athletes, the entire world, to really cluster and join in the celebration of the Olympics and it was the first time that non-ticket holders and ticket holders were able to really get together and enjoy the Olympic experience.
So it was -- There was a sense of community at Olympic Park that had not been felt in other Olympics in the past.
NEVILLE: And then what happened to that sense of community?
KRAUTTER: It was shattered, quite frankly, in the immediate aftermath. I think the explosion, thank goodness, was not as devastating as it could have been, but certainly it was -- there was a tremendous sense of panic.
NEVILLE: Kimberly, tell me -- That's what I want to hear about. Describe that for me. I mean, I know it's been awhile and right now we're sitting here, you're poised, I understand that. But I'm trying to get back to that night.
KRAUTTER: Well, I had been on the third platform about 30 feet up in the air, doing the photo shoot and we had been ordered to get down, to evacuate.
NEVILLE: By Richard Jewell.
KRAUTTER: By Richard Jewell. He was the security guard at the tower and he was just very -- concerned about our safety and he didn't explain why. We were just told we needed to get off the tower, so we wrapped and we started moving out of the park and then the explosion happened.
NEVILLE: What were you thinking?
KRAUTTER: You know, quite frankly, there wasn't any kind of explanation, it seemed odd and we weren't sure, but when the explosion happened, certainly, that put everything into perspective immediately.
NEVILLE: And then what happened? Where were you?
KRAUTTER: Well, were actually moving already towards the parking lot at that point, so -- and the crowd started moving and there was a lot of confusion. And it was a slow ripple effect, actually, because a lot of people as you can see by the videotape that was taken, a lot of people even fairly close to the tower at the time were not really sure if that was part of the night's entertainment, you know, fireworks or something.
NEVILLE: Fireworks or something.
KRAUTTER: But once the panic of the injury started setting in, there was mass confusion.
NEVILLE: Having been there that night, how do you feel about the news yesterday, when you heard that potential suspect Eric Robert Rudolph had been captured?
KRAUTTER: Immediately, there was a sense of excitement and relief for the possibility of just coming to closure. It's been a very long time, and of course, the investigation was misdirected for several months, for over a year, really, and there was the possibility of this never getting solved.
So the first impression was that now we have a chance to really see what happened. But I think the most important thing that it symbolizes is that, you know, the people who live by ideas that are rife with intolerance and hate, I think this arrest symbolizes that those who would pursue objectives counter to the ideals of this country, they're not going to win.
And I think that that's given me some peace.
NEVILLE: Really? Each though you think that people who have that sort of mindset, it's really kind of hard to infiltrate them.
KRAUTTER: It is very difficult to infiltrate them, and I know having been in the Nantahala Forest, where he had apparently been living all this time, I kayaked up there, I've hiked. And I certainly was a little bit more leery about going up and enjoying the forest after he was at large and knowing that there were people in the communities up there who were giving him safe harbor.
You know, his arrest symbolizes that those people are -- might win battles, but they're not going to win the war. But they do exist and it's a fairly insidious part of our society. NEVILLE: Indeed. Kimberly Krautter, thank you very much for being with here this morning.
KRAUTTER: Thank you.
NEVILLE: Good to see you.
KRAUTTER: Thank you.
NEVILLE: OK.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
