Published: October 17, 2008 05:27 pm      

BREAKING NEWS (4:40 p.m.): Cantrell identified as fatality, ATF says 'suicide attack'

Police have said the fatality at the McCamy Law Firm on West Crawford, site of a mid-morning bombing, was Lloyd Cantrell. An ATF spokesman called the incident a "suicide attack."

District Attorney Kermit McManus confirmed earlier in the day that the suspect was Cantrell. McManus said Cantrell had a grudge against the judicial system.

The attack left four people injured, two of whom have been released from Hamilton Medical Center, and one admitted. The fourth person, attorney Jim Phillips, 79, was being transported by plane to a burn treatment facility in Augusta.

After waiting for hours to make sure the building was cleared of explosives, firefighters worked to put out a blaze in the historic two-story converted house behind the post office on Thornton Avenue. Officials said the fire was almost under control at about 3 p.m.

Witnesses saw at least three people taken out of the building, including Phillips, on stretchers and a fourth walking at the scene in blast-tattered clothing.

Susan Crowder, 46, of Dalton identified herself to a reporter at the scene as Cantrell’s daughter. She said she had not spoken much with her father in three years. A distraught Crowder said she had been questioned by detectives twice on Friday. She said detectives had given her very little information. She also emphasized that she was sorry for the victim’s families.