The Oklahoma City Bombing Homegrown Terrorism The Oklahoma

The Oklahoma City Bombing: Homegrown Terrorism

The Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, was the most significant act of terrorism on American soil until the September 11 attacks in 2001.

It claimied the lives of 168 victims and injured more than 680. The blast also destroyed or damaged over 300 buildings within a sixteen–block radius. The bomb was estimated to have caused at least $652 million worth of damage.

Motivated by shared anti-federal government sentiments, the co-conspirators, led by bomber, Timothy Mc. Veigh, timed the attack to coincide with the second anniversary of FBI seige at Waco… as well as the anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord.

The bombers expressed anger at the federal government's handling of past FBI standoffs with extremists in 1992 at Ruby Ridge, as well as the Waco siege -a 1993 standoff between the FBI and Branch Davidian members…

In the fall of 1994, Mc. Veigh began plans to construct a bomb containing more than 5, 000 pounds of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, mixed with 1, 200 pounds of racing fuel; the bomb had a combined weight of about 7, 000 pounds.

On April 17– 18, Mc. Veigh and Nichols loaded the explosives into a rented Ryder truck. At dawn, April 19, Mc. Veigh drove toward the Murrah Federal Building, carrying with him an envelope including pages from The Turner Diaries— a fictional account of activists who rise up against the government and create a full-scale race war.

He wore a printed T-shirt with the motto “Sic semper tyrannis” ("Thus always to tyrants“) which was shouted by John Wilkes Booth immediately after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln…

At 8: 57 a. m. the nearby Regency Towers Apartments' security camera recorded the Ryder truck heading towards the Murrah Federal Building. Three minutes later, a block away, Mc. Veigh lit a two-minute fuse. He parked the Ryder truck in a drop-off zone, exited, and headed to his getaway vehicle.

At 9: 02 a. m. the Ryder truck exploded in front of the north side of the nine-story Murrah Federal Building…

The effects of the blast were equivalent to over 5, 000 pounds of dynamite; It could be heard and felt up to 55 miles away. Seismometers at Science Museum in Norman, 16. 1 miles away, recorded the blast as measuring 3. 0 on the Richter scale.

Most of the deaths resulted from the collapse of the building, rather than the bomb blast. Those killed included 163 who were in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, one person in the Athenian Building, one woman in a parking lot across the street, a man and woman in the nearby Oklahoma Water Resources building.

Of the dead, 99 worked for the federal government. Nineteen of the victims were children, fifteen of whom were in the America's Kids Day Care Center. The bodies of the 168 victims were identified at a temporary morgue set up at the scene

Mc. Veigh later reflected on killing children in the bombing: "I didn't define the rules of engagement in this conflict… It was brutal… Women and kids were killed at Waco and Ruby Ridge. You put back in the government's face exactly what they're giving out. ”

Ambulances, police, and firefighters headed to the scene, having heard the blast. Nearby civilians, who had also witnessed or heard the blast, arrived to assist the victims and emergency workers.

The Oklahoma National Guard arrived within the hour to provide security… Within the first hour, 50 people were rescued from the building. Victims were sent to every hospital in the area. At the end of the first day of rescue efforts, over 200 had been treated for their injuries…

The last survivor, a fifteen-year-old girl found under the base of the collapsed building, was rescued at about 7: 00 p. m.

In the days following the blast, over 12, 000 people participated in relief and rescue operations. K-9 units and out-of-state dogs were brought in to search for survivors and bodies in the building refuse.

Initially, the FBI had different theories regarding who might have committed the bombing. The first was that it was international terrorism, possibly by the same group who had carried out the World Trade Center bombing two years earlier…

Within two hours of the explosion Mc. Veigh was stopped by an Oklahoma State Trooper near Perry, OK, for driving without a license plate and arrested for unlawfully carrying a weapon.

After booking Mc. Veigh, Officer Hanger searched his police car and found a business card for a Wisconsin military surplus store, with the words "TNT at $5 a stick. Need more. "

Using the VIN number from the axle of the Ryder truck used in the explosion and the remnants of the license plate, federal agents were able to link the truck to a rental agency in Junction City, Kansas; using a sketch created by the owner of the agency, the agents were able to implicate Mc. Veigh.

Forensic evidence quickly linked Mc. Veigh and co-conspirator, Terry Nichols to the attack; within days, they were arrested and charged. Michael Fortier was also identified as an accomplice.

The official investigation was the largest criminal investigation case in American history prior to 9/11; FBI agents conducted over 30, 000 interviews, amassing 3 tons of evidence…

Concluding a June, 1997 federal trial of Mc. Veigh, the jury deliberated for 23 hours. Mc. Veigh was found guilty of murder and conspiracy. Although the defense argued for a reduced sentence of life imprisonment, Mc. Veigh was sentenced to death.

Speaking about the deaths of innocent civilians, Mc. Veigh once stated, "Think about the people as if they were storm troopers in Star Wars. They may be individually innocent, but they are guilty because they work for the Evil Empire. "

President George W. Bush approved the execution by lethal injection at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 11, 2001. The execution was transmitted on closed-circuit television so that the relatives of the victims could witness his death. Mc. Veigh's execution was the first federal execution in 38 years. Mc. Veigh died without saying a word.

Nichols was sentenced to life in prison. Michael Fortier, who testified against Mc. Veigh and Nichols, was sentenced to twelve years in prison for failing to warn the government.

It has been estimated that about 387, 000 people in the Oklahoma City metropolitan area (a third of the population) knew someone who was directly affected by the bombing…

For two years after the bombing the only memorials to the victims were plush toys, crucifixes, letters, and other personal items left by thousands of people at a security fence surrounding the site of the building.

Many suggestions for suitable memorials were sent, but an official memorial planning committee was not set up until the following year to formulate plans to commemorate the victims of the bombing.

The memorial was designed at a cost of $29 million, which was raised by public and private funds, including millions of pennies sent by the nation’s schoolchildren.

On April 19, 2000, the Oklahoma City National Memorial was dedicated by President Clinton on the site of the Murrah Federal Building, commemorating the victims of the bombing.

Chairs, lit at night, stand silent…

representing each of the innocents who died …

On the gates of the Memorial reads…

We come here to remember those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever. May all who leave here know the impact of violence. May this memorial offer comfort, strength, peace, hope and serenity.

For the Oklahoma Council for Social Studies, Compliments of Edmond Public Schools