Module 3 - Arson and Explosives

The Oklahoma City bombing was a terrorist attack occurring in April 1995. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, a U.S. government highrise in downtown Oklahoma City, was bombed, the explosion killing 168 people, including children, and injuring over 800 more.

Planning and Preparation

Timothy McVeigh rented a truck in Kansas and drove it to Oklahoma City with Terry Nichols, his accomplice. When they arrived in Oklahoma City, they rented a car and parked it a few blocks from the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. They removed the license plate from the car and left it. This car would become their getaway vehicle. McVeigh and Nichols then returned to Kansas in their rented truck for two days. They spent two days creating a time-delayed explosive device that they put in the rented truck that they packed with explosives. After finishing the truck-bomb, the two men separated; Nichols returned to his home in Kansas, and McVeigh drove the truck to Oklahoma City.

Five years after the bombing, the Oklahoma City National Museum and memorial were completed. The memorial includes the Field of Empty Chairs—symbolic bronze and stone chairs, one for each person lost. The chairs represent the empty chairs at the dinner tables of the victims’ families. Smaller chairs represent the 19 children killed. The Survivor Tree at the Oklahoma City National Memorial The tree was part of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building’s original landscaping, and it survived the bombing. Photograph courtesy of Dustin M. Ramsey (September 18, 2004)

The Explosive Device

Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols fashioned their explosive device from large amounts of several chemical compounds, most of which they stole. The chemicals were mixed using plastic buckets and a bathroom scale. They used more than a hundred 22 kg bags of ammonium nitrate, several 208-litre drums of nitromethane, several crates of explosive Tovex sausage, and numerous bags of ANFO (ammonium nitrate-fuel oil).

Ammonium nitrate: a white powder commonly used by farmers as a fertilizer; an oxidizing agent when used in an explosive. Nitromethane: an organic compound used as a solvent, a cleaning solvent, or a highly potent racing fuel Tovex: sausage-shaped strings of a commercial explosive that has become more popular than dynamite; used in construction, mining, quarrying, tunnelling, etc. ANFO: ammonium nitrate-fuel oil; most widely used explosive in coal mining, quarrying, metal mining, and construction.

After the bomb was completed, a fuse was time-delayed and made to detonate using the truck’s ignition. The determined bombers included extra explosives near the driver's seat to be ignited by McVeigh’s handgun if the main fuse failed.

ANFO (ammonium nitrate-fuel oil) accounts for an estimated 80% of the 2.7 million metric tons of explosive used annually in North America.

The Explosion

About 9 a.m. April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked the truck in a drop-off zone on the north side of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. This drop-off zone was directly under a children’s day-care center. McVeigh then triggered the time-delayed detonator, locked the vehicle, and walked to his getaway car parked a few blocks away.

The explosion destroyed one-third of the entire building and created a 2.4-metre crater with a diameter of 9 metres. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 buildings in a sixteen-block radius, destroyed 86 cars, and shattered windows in 258 neighbouring buildings. The destruction of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building left several hundred people homeless and shut many businesses in downtown Oklahoma City.

Broken and flying glass from windows in the Okalahoma City Bombing accounted for 5% of the death total and 69% of the injuries outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The Victims

The bombing claimed 168 lives and injured more than 800 people. Of the dead, 160 were from inside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, six were from nearby buildings, one woman was across the street in a parking lot, and one rescue worker was struck in the head by debris. The victims ranged in age from three months to 73 years. Tragically, three victims were pregnant women and 19 were children. Family members identified the bodies at a temporary morgue on site. Medical experts determined the identities using X-rays, dental examinations, fingerprints, blood tests, and DNA analysis. The explosion injured 853 people, the majority having various abrasions, severe burns, and fractures.

The blast of the Oklahoma City Bombing was heard and felt up to 89 km away. It measured approximately 3.0 on the Richter scale.

The Rescue Effort

Just minutes after the explosion, ambulances, police, and firefighters arrived. They were soon assisted by the Civil Air Patrol, the American Red Cross, and citizens who had witnessed the blast. More than four hundred members of the Oklahoma National Guard arrived within an hour of the explosion to provide security. This immediate action led to the rescue of fifty injured people within the first hour.

About 1.5 hours after the explosion, rescue workers found what appeared to be a second bomb. Many rescue workers initially refused to leave, but police ordered a mandatory evacuation of a four-block area around the site. This evacuation was cancelled when the device was determined to be only an explosive simulation device used in training explosive detection dogs.

In the days that followed, more than 12 000 people helped in the massive rescue and clean-up operation. Twenty-four police service tracking dogs searched for survivors and bodies in the debris. For ten days following the attack, 100 to 350 tons of rubble were removed from the site each day. The rescue and clean-up operation was completed in 35 days and the remains of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building were demolished.

The Oklahoma City Bombing led the U.S. government to pass legislation to increase protection around federal buildings to prevent future domestic terrorist attacks. This legislation has helped law enforcement to interrupt more than fifty domestic terrorist plots.

The Arrests

Just 90 minutes after the explosion, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol officer pulled over 27-year-old Timothy McVeigh as he travelled out of Oklahoma City. He was arrested for driving without a license plate and carrying a concealed handgun. Later that day, McVeigh was linked to the bombing when investigators found the serial number from the axle of the destroyed rental truck. McVeigh was a 27-year-old decorated U.S. Army veteran of the Persian Gulf War, and he was sympathizer of an anti-government militia movement.

Federal agents then searched for Terry Nichols. Two days after the bombing, Nichols learned that investigators were looking for him and he turned himself in. McVeigh and Nichols’ motive was to avenge the U.S. government’s raid of the Branch Davidian sect in Waco, Texas, in which 80 people died.

A third suspect named Michael Fortier was also eventually arrested. Fortier was a friend of Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols. He had an indirect role in the bombing by helping steal some of the bomb supplies and accompanying McVeigh on a previous visit to the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building to plan the bombing.

The Criminal Trials

At that time, the Oklahoma City Bombing was the largest criminal case in U.S. history. Nearly 28 000 interviews were conducted and evidence weighed more than 3 tonnes. The massive investigation led to separate trials and convictions for Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols.

In June 1997, a jury found Timothy McVeigh guilty of eleven counts of murder and conspiracy. McVeigh was sentenced to death and was executed by lethal injection in June 2001. The execution was televised and watched by relatives of the victims.

Terry Nichols was tried in federal court in 1997 and found guilty of conspiring to build a weapon of mass destruction and of eight counts of involuntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to life without parole. Then in May 2004, he was found guilty of 161 counts of first-degree murder. The jury deadlocked regarding the issue of sentencing him to death, so the presiding judge gave Nichols a sentence of 161 consecutive life terms without the possibility of parole.

Michael Fortier agreed to testify against McVeigh and Nichols in exchange for a modest sentence and immunity for his wife. As a result, Fortier was given only 12 years in prison and a $200 000 fine for failing to warn authorities about the attack. On January 20, 2006, after serving 85% of his prison term, Fortier was released for good behaviour. Michael Fortier and his wife were placed in the Witness Protection Program and given new identities.

An Aerial Photograph of the Oklahoma City Bombing Site

- Image Source: courtesy Wikipedia.org