Update: They found the bomber… read below. Apparently this morning around 9am, 3 bombs were found in the dumpsters near my old dormitory, Glenn Hall. I heard from a friend that lives in Glenn that a custodian was taking out the trash and picked up a plastic bag, where one of the bombs had been placed and it exploded. After that incident, a whole bunch of Atlanta police and a bomb squad arrived to find if there were anymore bombs. Two more were found in the dumpster, and were taken care of by the bomb squad. My roommate saw from driving by on the campus bus, the Stinger, that many students were evacuated until the situation was handled. Pretty scary stuff I may say, even though the bombs were said to be made from small plastic bottles, nothing too powerful. After hearing about this, I found it was put on the frontpage of Drudge Report with a red link saying “‘Terrorist Act’ on Georgia Tech Campus.”
You can read the article at a local news station’s site.
Update:
I just received an email in response to this incident.
Oct. 10, 2005
Questions relating to this morning’s incident near the East Campus residence halls are appreciated and understandable. Please know that the Georgia Tech Police, the City of Atlanta Police and other emergency responders took full precautions in responding to this incident.
Just before 9 a.m. this morning, Oct. 10 during routine grounds cleaning, a facility staff member picked up an item believed to be trash in the courtyard near the Glenn and Cloudman residence halls and it exploded. He was taken to a local clinic for evaluation.
Two other similar devices found at the scene were detonated by the Atlanta Police Department explosives disposal unit.
Glenn and Cloudman were evacuated as precautionary measures. Students were allowed to return to their rooms at noon.
In the news, you will hear the phrase “terroristic act,” and in keeping with Georgia Code, any explosive device left in a public area fits this definition. Although the Atlanta Police Department has said they will investigate the bombing as if it were a terrorist act, it does not mean that it was in fact a terrorist act. The rapid and thorough response to this morning’s incident by campus and local police is an example of the authorities’ readiness to respond and protect the campus community.
The bombs were discovered near the dumpsters in this picture taken by me from my dorm room window last year.
Update: The bomber has been found, here is the email I just received.
To the Georgia Tech Community:
A Georgia Tech student has indicated his involvement in the Oct. 10 incident involving a crude bottle explosive found on east campus. The incident was not in any way the work of a “terrorist” group.The student turned himself in to Georgia Tech police the morning of Oct. 11 and confessed to his involvement. He’s facing charges for possession of a destructive device (a felony under Georgia Law) and reckless conduct (a misdemenor under Georgia law).
The freshman engineering student has been temporarily suspended pending a student judiciary ruling.
Georgia Tech Police and the Atlanta Police Department are still investigating the incident. The contents and exact nature of the bottle explosives has not been determined and is still under investigation.
While this incident unfortunately was frightening for many of our students, faculty and staff, it turned out to be an excellent test of Tech’s emergency preparedness program. All emergency response efforts functioned exceedingly well, and we have every confidence that would be the case if such an incident occurred in the future.
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Creepy.
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To all it may concern:
As many of you may know, or have recently become aware, the student responsible for the incident on October 10th has been apprehended. Well, actually it is more accurate to say he has voluntarily turned himself in. Theodore Hollot, age 18, walked out of his dorm room at 9:30am this morning knowing that he would not be returning for lunch.
While it may be true that Theodore was indeed responsible for the particular “device� involved in this incident, it is no surprise to most Tech student that this sort of activity occurs frequently on campus. Following the example of several other students who had made similar devices the week before, Thad proceeded to concoct several of his own “water bottle bombs� using nothing more then commercially available dry-ice (solid C02) and water. The difference here is a matter of extremely bad luck, as several of the devices apparently failed to “explode� (pop is a better description), and one was lost from view. Upon realizing that some of the bottles remained intact, Theodore went down to the “crime scene� and picked up the bottles he saw and unscrewed their lids to release the pressure (no need for a bomb squad). Granted, this sort of activity could be considered dangerous, and it is a violation of housing rules to throw anything out of a window. Previous violators have gotten off with little more then a verbal warning. If you live in the vicinity of Glenn hall, you know that there are more then a few previous violators. As I have mentioned before, Theodore’s case is one of extremely bad luck as the one remaining bottle, after sitting untouched for 2 days, happened to burst when a groundskeeper picked it up with a pair of metal thongs.
After reading and watching several news reports on the incident, it became apparent to Theodore that, given the vicinity of the “crime scene� to his window and his recent activities, it could have been one of his “bombs� that had caused the whole ordeal. With little more then circumstantial evidence to possibly link the device in question back to Theodore, as well as the host of other student who had been concocting similar devices, it was plain for anyone to see that the best course of action would be to lay low and let it blow over. Well, that is what sets Theodore apart from everyone else. Without any prompting from his peers, he headed down to the Glenn housing director (Joseph Slade) and confessed his potential involvement with the recent incident. The next morning, he got dressed, said goodbye, and walked across campus to the Georgia Tech Police Station to turn himself in.
Obviously, these are not the actions of a “terrorist�. Thad made a poor decision, but he has taken full responsibility for his actions. Who among us hasn’t been involved in a similar, albeit less serious, situation, only to take the hit as a group because the culprit holds out, forcing the authorities to go to extreme measures to finger the suspect? By turning himself in without a fuss, Theodore not only proved himself true to character of a Georgia Tech Student, he also saved many people a lot of time, money and effort. We all make mistakes, but is Thad’s mistake worthy of a felony charge which would render him unable to attend another university for the rest of his life? I am not sure what, if anything, we can do, but if you feel that there is something wrong in this situation, I would ask that show your support by joining the Facebook group “Free Thad� and voicing your opinion on the message boards.
As far as I know, there will be a student judiciary ruling, while I am uncertain as to how this works; I assume that the student body can in some way influence the outcome of the hearing. Pending further details surrounding Theodore’s case, I will figure out what exactly we can do to help.
Thank you all for your consideration