On April 19, 1995, a truck packed with explosives was detonated outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, leaving 168 people dead, including 19 children. 500 more were injured. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed or burned 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage. Within moments of the explosion, a third of the building had been reduced to rubble. Dozens of cars were incinerated and more than 300 nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed. Rescue efforts did not end until two weeks later after the death toll had risen to hundreds. It was the worst act of domestic terrorism in the nation’s history and was the worst terrorist attack until 9/11.
A massive hunt for the bombing suspects ensued, and on April 21 an eyewitness description led authorities to charge Timothy McVeigh, a former U.S. Army soldier, in the case. By that time, McVeigh was already in jail for a traffic violation and unlawful carrying of a handgun. Before his release, he was identified as a suspect and charged.
McVeigh enlisted in the Army in 1988, where he befriended fellow soldier Nichols, who was more than a dozen years his senior and shared his survivalist interests. He served in the Persian Gulf War and was a decorated soldier, but left after failing to qualify for the Special Forces program. After the end of the Cold War, McVeigh had suspicions about the US federal government and was deeply radicalized by such events as the August 1992 shoot-out at Ruby Ridge, Idaho and the Waco siege of April, 1993, in which 75 members of a Branch Davidian religious sect died near Waco, Texas.
That same day, Terry Nichols, his friend from the army, surrendered in Herington, Kansas. Both men were found to be members of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan. Though the investigation, known as “OKBOMB”, was quickly solved, it was one of the most thorough in FBI history. By the time it was over, the Bureau had conducted more than 28,000 interviews, followed some 43,000 investigative leads, amassed three-and-a-half tons of evidence, and reviewed nearly a billion pieces of information.
Michael Fortier, an individual who had known about their plans to bomb the federal building, agreed to testify on August 8th in exchange for his own sentence being reduced. Two days later, both McVeigh and Nichols were indicted for murder and the unlawful use of explosives. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life in prison in 2004. Michael Fortier was sentenced to 12 years in jail, while Lori Fortier received immunity because she had testified.
This act of terrorism remains as one of the worst ever in the nation. Additionally, this attack was what alerted the nation to dangerous of the extreme right and led reporters to the militia movement. Affecting not just the media, the FBI shifted its priorities, reassigning large numbers of agents to work domestic terrorism cases and hiring many new agents. It significantly expanded the number of Joint Terrorism Task Forces across the country and went to Congress with a lengthy “want” list. The Justice Department funded an anti-terrorist training program for senior state and local law enforcement executives. In 1999, the FBI issued an analysis called Project Megiddo, warning about potential dangers posed by religious and ideological extremists during the turn of the millennium. In 1995, the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum opened near the site of the bombing.
Sources:
https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/oklahoma-city-bombing
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oklahoma_City_bombing#Aftermath
https://www.fbi.gov/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing
https://www.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/oklahoma-city-bombing-fast-facts/index.html
https://www.adl.org/news/article/oklahoma-city-bombing
Nice post. It's sad to hear that so many people were killed because of this bombing. I was surprised that the blast could do so much damage, enough to cause over 500 million dollars of damage. I was also surprised that the Fortier's chose not to report such an attack yet were given only 12 years for one and immunity for the other. Was there not enough evidence to convict them already? Another scary prospect was that the bombers actually planned to use even more powerful explosives, rocket fuel, but were unable to obtain it due to how expensive rocket fuel is.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post, as I found it to be very informative. I liked how you elaborated on the background of the terrorist and his career serving in the army. I would also like to add that McVeigh chose to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building due to his anti-government beliefs, caused by the government’s sieges at Waco and Ruby Ridge. I was really surprised that a homemade bomb could do enough damage to affect 300 buildings.
ReplyDeleteSource: https://www.history.com/topics/1990s/oklahoma-city-bombing