ATLANTA — People touched by the bombings attributed to Eric Rudolph — victims, investigators, civilians hoping to live their lives in peace — expressed emotions ranging from goosebump-provoking joy to guarded relief Saturday upon hearing news of his arrest.
Randy Paige, a CBS television cameraman who won an Emmy for his work on the 1997 bombing of a Sandy Springs, Ga., abortion clinic, had the goosebump reaction.
"I saw it on CNN," he said a little sheepishly. "I called my wife and said, 'Baby, they caught him.' She said, 'The one who messed up your hearing?' I said, 'Yup.' "
Paige was preparing for an interview at the abortion clinic when the second bomb went off there. The noise hit his camera microphone, traveled through his ear plug and straight into his ear.
"He cost me the hearing in right ear," Paige said. Despite his injury, "I have no hatred in my heart," he said. "I would love to see this guy, but I have no hatred toward him at all. I'm just happy they caught the guy so there won't be any more victims out here."
Calvin Thorbourne of Austell, Ga., who still has shrapnel in his leg from the Centennial Olympic Park bombing, described his feelings as "bittersweet."
"I'm glad that someone's captured, glad that no one else can be hurt by him," Thorbourne said. "Once he goes through the court system, then I'll feel another level of happiness. This is really just the beginning. It's a first step, but it's a big one, and I'm glad for that."
"It is very emotional for us," said John Hawthorne Jr. of Albany, Ga., whose wife, Alice, was killed in the Centennial bombing. "I've been waiting for this for seven years. And that is a long time to wait."
Hawthorne's daughter, who is 20 now, was also injured in the bombing. Hawthorne says they never talk about it.
"We try and deal with it in a private way," said Hawthorne, 54. "We relive it almost every day. And it would bring too many of those feelings back to talk about it."
Law enforcement figures took satisfaction that a highly publicized manhunt has been brought to a successful end.
"It's an exciting, exciting day," said Doug Jones, the former U.S. Attorney who obtained Rudolph's indictment in Birmingham.
"I truly felt like this guy was alive and that he would trip up one day. We felt there would be some letting down of his guard. This time, there was an alert police officer there to catch him."
Retired Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent Charles Stone said the fact that Rudolph was found near a trash bin and gave up without a fight shows the years of running wore him down.
"I think he's tired of running, physically tired," said Stone. "That life runs you down. He probably had no reserve."
Stone believes that Rudolph has a cache of explosives and believes he'll tell authorities where it is.
Kent Alexander, who was U.S. attorney in Atlanta during the bombings, said he was "ecstatic" hearing the news. Like almost anyone who has paid attention to the case, Alexander is keenly interested to know where Rudolph has been.
"That's quite a journey he's been on. He lived like a lot of homeless people — but there's not usually thousands of people looking for homeless people," he said. "I'm sure in summer camps in North Carolina they were telling campfire stories of Eric Rudolph, scaring kids. And there was reason to be scared."
Ronaldo Hoelscher of Seattle wonders what took so long to catch the fugitive. Hoelscher was visiting Atlanta for the Olympic Games and was in Centennial Olympic Park when the bomb went off. He was injured by flying shrapnel but says he had largely put the incident out of mind until he learned of Rudolph's arrest.
"I forgot about it," Hoelscher said. "I knew that he was not captured. I knew they were chasing him in the mountains."
Now a civil engineer, Hoelscher said he is surprised at how long it took to track Rudolph down.
"I'm shocked. I thought he'd be caught a long time ago, with all our technology."
Ted Riner heard about Rudolph's arrest at 11:30 a.m. Saturday when he got a call from his Georgia State Patrol office in South Georgia.
Minutes before the bomb exploded at Centennial Park in 1996, Riner, 50, had been moving people back from what he and fellow troopers deemed a suspicious package. It exploded and left Riner, then 44, with shrapnel wounds to his back, face and legs.
"There's a mix of emotions," Riner said of the news of Rudolph's arrest. "A little closure. A little anger. But I'd love to have had him five minutes after it happened. You know, somebody hurts you, you hurt them back."
Riner retuned to work 10 days after being injured. He's still a trooper but now is part of a detachment working with the U.S. Marshal Service's fugitive squad.
"I'm kind of glad it's all over with," Riner said. "Today I feel good, partly because of (Rudolph's arrest). But I hope this will help bring closure to those other families who suffered. He just hurt me a little bit. I'll get over that."