Oklahoma City Bombing

The Oklahoma City bombing was a horrible act of terrorism that resulted in the deaths of 168 people, including 19 children, when a car bomb went off outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. Before the 9/11 attack, the Oklahoma City bombing was the largest terrorist attack to take place on United States soil.

The attack was perpetrated by an ex-Army soldier, Timothy McVeigh, and his co-conspirator Terry Nichols. McVeigh had rented a Ryder truck and had placed within it a bomb made out of fertilizer, diesel, and other chemicals. McVeigh drove the truck and parked it outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, then started the fuze, got out, and drove away in his getaway car. The bomb exploded at 9:02 AM on April 19, 1995, reducing the whole north wall of the building to rubble and flattening several stories. The damage extended to nearby buildings and vehicles and totaled around $652 million. In addition to the 168 casualties, over 500 people were injured as a result of the attack.

While authorities were initially suspicious of Middle Eastern terrorist groups, they eventually caught McVeigh after he was identified by witnesses. The Ryder truck’s rear axle had been found in the rubble, leading the authorities to the supplier, who was able to provide Tim McVeigh’s name and sketch. The authorities found him two days after the attack with relative ease; he was already in jail due to a mere traffic violation after leaving the scene of the crime. His getaway car had missing plates that resulted in him being pulled over just 90 minutes after the attack, and after being pulled over he was found with an illegally concealed firearm, leading to his arrest. Just days before he was to be released from prison, he was charged as a suspect and Nichols voluntarily confessed to the police.

McVeigh and his co-conspirators were both ex-military and were found associated with the Patriot movement, a radical right-wing group in Michigan. McVeigh’s motivation for the act of terror revolved around his anger over recent Waco Siege, in which 75 members of a Branch Davidian religious sect were killed by federal agents. McVeigh was charged and found guilty of 11 counts of murder and conspiracy and was sentenced to death by lethal injection to take place on June 11, 2001. Terry Nichols was also found guilty conspiracy and 8 counts of involuntary manslaughter. Nichols would be sentenced to 161 consecutive life terms without parole.
The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was demolished in 1995 and was replaced by the  Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum. The OKC bombing was truly a dark point in American history, and as the FBI puts it, “It was the worst act of homegrown terrorism in the nation’s history.”

https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing
https://www.history.com/topics/oklahoma-city-bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege#Final_assault
https://www.britannica.com/event/Oklahoma-City-bombing