Ray William Johnson: True Story Podcast - From Hero to Terrorist - The Richard Jewell story

Episode Date: June 14, 2025

Richard Jewell was an American security guard who, during the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, spotted a suspicious green knapsack in Centennial Park and helped evacuate the area just before it exploded—saving numerous lives. Initially lauded as a hero, he was soon thrust into the spotlight as the FBI and media turned on him, propelled by speculative profiling, leaked information, and sensational headlines that branded him the likely bomber without any charges.

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So this guy saved people from a bomb and then the whole world turned against him. Now the guy's name is Richard and Richard's 34, he's a security guard working in Atlanta and one night in 1996 he's working the night shift at the Summer Olympics which happened to be going on in Atlanta and he's posted up in this huge park area where spectators are hanging out, eating from concession stands, listening to live music on a big stage nearby. And while he's patrolling, Richard knows. notices a group of drunk people hanging out near a bench. And they're being loud and they're like throwing trash on the ground

and he goes over to confront them and they leave. But when they leave, they leave a green military backpack under a park bench. Richard's like, hey, you left your bag! And they're like, that's not our bag, you turd. And so Richard starts thinking, this bag's been chilling here for like 30 minutes and no one has come to pick it up. What if there's a bomb in there?

And I have no idea why he's not. why he immediately thinks it's a bomb, but you know, he does. And it's a little paranoid, but he could be right. And so Richard radios his supervisors, and he's like, I think there might be a bomb in this bag. And they call the bomb squad over to investigate this. And so the bomb squad is on their way. Here's the thing, though. Richard doesn't know it yet, but he's actually right.

There is a bomb inside the bag. Three pipe bombs, actually. And they're stuffed with shrapnel ready to go off. And while the bomb squad is on their way, an ATF agent comes over to check it out. And this agent gets on the ground and he starts looking at it with a flashlight. And this dude's like, yep, that's a bomb. And so, bam, suddenly Richard and everyone panics and a lot of people run away. But Richard doesn't.

Instead, he starts running around trying to clear out the area. There's a bomb! Get out of the way! Get out of the way! There's a bomb! He's running up to as many people as possible, telling them to get away from this backpack. And it's actually working. Little by little, the crowd starts to back up and flee. Then all of a sudden, kaboom, one of the bombs goes off, and shrapnel explodes everywhere.

And everyone around screams and they run for their lives. And it's absolute chaos. And pieces fly through the air and they hit people, including one woman in the head and she dies. Also, a cameraman is running toward the explosion because he wants to film it. And I guess he gets too excited and he has a heart attack and he falls over and dies. And overall, two people die and a hundred and twelve people get hurt.

But Richard, he actually saved a bunch of lives that day by evacuating everyone beforehand. And so immediately, this bombing is big news and the story blows up. And suddenly the media starts calling him a hero. And he's getting invited to do like TV interviews, like on CNN. And I just hope that we catch the people that did it. And he should be getting all this attention. He saved a lot of lives.

He's an unlikely security guard who suddenly became a hero. The man deserves a medal. Until. Unfortunately for him, not everyone thinks Richard is a hero. Pretty quickly, one of his former employers sees him being interviewed on CNN, and he doesn't like it. He apparently just doesn't like Richard, and he calls in a tip to the FBI. Like, I think Richard planted the bomb himself. Now, the FBI, they've been investigating all this,

and they apparently don't have a lot of leads in this case, and they need to start making arrests soon, or they're going to look really bad at their job. And so they get this tip, and they start thinking, maybe it was this Richard guy who planted the bomb, and they start investigating him. And journalists, they hear about this, and again, kaboom. Now this version of the story blows up,

and every news outlet is talking about how Richard, the hero, security guard, is actually a terrorist. And they start running with this whole narrative that he probably planted the bomb himself so that he could come across as a hero and the media is all over him, chasing him around. Can you stop first second, please? Did you turn around?

Where were you? What's the question before they ask? And so he's staying in his mother's apartment. I think he actually lives with his mom. But look at the media just hanging out outside his mother's apartment, trying to get pictures of him, trying to talk to him.

Like suddenly this guy can't go anywhere. Can you categorically say that you did not do this? I did not do it. Categorically. Yes. And during all this, he's still kind of doing interviews and they're like confronting him. I don't know if you ever saw this. I was trying to see it.

That's your reaction to it. Probably sold some papers that day. And so the FBI, they want to bring Richard in and question him, but they want to trick him into coming in without a lawyer. And so they hit him up and they tell him, tell him, yeah, we think you're a hero. And they say that they're making a training video on the bombing for future FBI agents to watch. And they invite him to come to the FBI building in Atlanta and talk to them and help them make this training video. And poor naive Richard, he's like,

all right. And so he goes to their offices and they start asking him all kinds of questions. But they're real chill. Like this all feels like they're just gathering information for this training video they're making. And one of the agents, is like, yeah, we want to make this training video as realistic as possible. Just pretend you're a suspect and I'll read you your Miranda rights and we'll record it. And so this agent starts reading Richard his Miranda rights and that is when Richard realizes something isn't right. And so he uses their phone and he calls up a friend of his who happens to be a lawyer. And his lawyer friend is like, I see what they're doing here.

You get the hell out of that building right now, Richard. And so Richard leaves. FBI, they don't get any answers from him. However, unfortunately for him, the FBI isn't done yet. They really seem to want to connect him to this bombing. And so pretty quickly, they get a warrant to search his place. And they go there and they rip his apartment apart for like seven hours. And they make him sit outside with the media vultures hounding him the whole time. And the media is all snapping candid photos of him. Here's actually a picture of him waiting on the stairwell, like looking all depressed.

And of course, the FBI, they don't find anything in their search because he's not guilty of anything. And so this chaos goes on for nearly three months. The media's just harassing him. The FBI's harassing him. He can't go anywhere without being accused of being a terrorist. He can't sleep. Partly because the apartment being surrounded by reporters all the time and partly due to PTSD

from witnessing a freaking bomb go off and watching someone die from it. But as time goes on, it eventually becomes clear that no matter how hard they try, the FBI can't seem to find any evidence that Richard had anything to do with the bombing or that he's guilty of anything at all. And so after a long, embarrassing investigation, the Justice Department finally releases a formal statement confirming once and for all that Richard has been cleared of any suspicion. And Richard, of course, he's super relieved and he holds a whole press comment. conference. And it's rush to show the world how quickly it could get its man. The FBI trampled on my rights as a citizen.

And he also files a lawsuit against several media outlets for dragging his name through the mud, and he also sues his former employer for talking shit about him. And from this, he gets a bunch of settlement money, and he uses that to buy him and his mom a new house. So good for him. And eventually, in 2003, they finally catch the real business. bomber, some psycho who was doing it for political reasons. And now he's in prison for life. So, fuck him.