Officer Robert "Sande" Sanderson

Robert "Sande" Sanderson

Officer Sande Sanderson was killed when a bomb exploded as he worked an overtime assignment at an abortion clinic located at 1001 17th Street S.

Officer Sanderson and one of the clinic's nurses were opening the clinic when the bomb detonated. The nurse was transported to a local hospital in critical condition. Officer Sanderson is the first person ever to be killed in an abortion clinic bombing.

The subject had evaded searches involving several hundred state and federal officers by hiding in a national forest in North Carolina since the incident. The man was apprehended on May 31st, 2003, when a police officer in Murphy, North Carolina, spotted him digging through a dumpster and arrested him. On April 13th, 2005, the man plead guilty to the bombing in which Officer Sanderson was killed. He was sentenced to four life sentences.

Officer Sanderson was a U.S. Air Force veteran and had served with the Birmingham Police Department for nine years. He is survived by his wife and one child.