DemolishedAMbuilding — Credit: Father of Nehrams2020 · CC BY-SA 3.0
On the morning of April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh parked a rented Ryder truck loaded with a homemade bomb of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, nitromethane, and diesel fuel in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and detonated it at 9:02 a.m. The blast destroyed more than a third of the nine-story building, which housed 14 federal agencies, including the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. It also destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a four-block radius and destroyed 86 vehicles, causing an estimated $652 million in damage. The bombing and the building's partial collapse killed 168 people, including 19 children, most of whom were in the building's day-care center, and injured more than 680 others. Victims ranged in age from three months to 73 years and included three pregnant women; 108 of the dead worked for the federal government. The attack remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in United States history.
McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, and Terry Nichols, whom he had met during U.S. Army basic training in 1988, planned the attack over several months. Both men were angered by the federal government's handling of the 1992 standoff at Ruby Ridge and the 1993 siege of a Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, which ended with dozens of deaths, as well as by a 1994 federal assault weapons ban. McVeigh and Nichols bought and stole materials for the bomb, including ammonium nitrate fertilizer purchased in Kansas and explosives stolen from a quarry, stored them in rented sheds, and robbed an Arkansas gun collector to help fund the plot. McVeigh rented the Ryder truck in Junction City, Kansas, under a false name, and the two men assembled the bomb at Geary Lake State Park before McVeigh drove it to Oklahoma City. He had chosen April 19 to coincide with the anniversary of the Waco siege.
McVeigh was stopped less than two hours after the bombing by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Charlie Hanger, who pulled him over on Interstate 35 near Perry, Oklahoma, for driving without a license plate and arrested him after finding a concealed weapon. Investigators traced a vehicle identification number recovered from the truck wreckage to the Kansas rental agency and identified McVeigh within days; Terry Nichols turned himself in to police on April 21, 1995, after learning he was being sought. The FBI's investigation, known internally as OKBOMB, involved roughly 28,000 interviews and more than 7,100 pounds of evidence.
Rescue workers pulled 50 survivors from the wreckage within the first hour, and the last survivor, a 15-year-old girl, was found that evening. More than 12,000 people took part in the rescue and recovery effort, which concluded on May 5, 1995; the damaged building was demolished on May 23, 1995. Rebecca Anderson, a nurse who volunteered to help in the rescue effort, was killed after being struck on the head by falling debris. President Bill Clinton declared a federal emergency and ordered flags at federal buildings flown at half-staff for 30 days. In response to the bombing, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and legislation to increase security around federal buildings.
McVeigh and Nichols were tried separately and convicted in 1997. McVeigh was sentenced to death and was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, at the federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Case status
solved
Case timeline
1988
Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols met at Fort Benning, Georgia, during U.S. Army basic training.
1992
A federal standoff at Ruby Ridge became one of the grievances McVeigh later cited against the federal government.
1993
A 51-day siege at a Branch Davidian compound near Waco, Texas, ended in dozens of deaths; McVeigh later cited it as a motivation for the bombing.
1994-08
McVeigh obtained nine binary-explosive Kinestiks from a gun collector in Arkansas and, with Nichols, test-ignited devices in Herington, Kansas.
1994-09-30
Terry Nichols bought forty 50-pound bags of ammonium nitrate fertilizer from a farm cooperative in McPherson, Kansas.
1994-10-18
Nichols bought an additional 50-pound bag of ammonium nitrate fertilizer.
1994-12
McVeigh traveled to Oklahoma City and scouted the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building as a target.
1995-04-14
McVeigh paid for a room at the Dreamland Motel in Junction City, Kansas, and rented a Ryder truck under a false name.
1995-04-16
McVeigh and Nichols drove to Oklahoma City, where McVeigh parked a getaway car several blocks from the Murrah Federal Building.
1995-04-17
McVeigh and Nichols loaded the bomb materials into the Ryder truck and assembled the bomb at Geary Lake State Park.
1995-04-19
McVeigh detonated the truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building at 9:02 a.m., killing 168 people and destroying more than a third of the building.
1995-04-19
Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Charlie Hanger stopped and arrested McVeigh on Interstate 35 near Perry within 90 minutes of the bombing.
1995-04-21
Terry Nichols turned himself in to police after learning he was being sought.
1995-05-05
Rescue and recovery operations at the site concluded.
1995-05-23
The damaged Murrah Federal Building was demolished.
1996
In response to the bombing, Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996.
1997
McVeigh and Nichols were tried separately and convicted for the bombing.
2001-06-11
Timothy McVeigh was executed by lethal injection at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.
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People
Baylee Almon
VICTIM
An infant who died at a hospital after being carried from the wreckage; photographed in a firefighter's arms in an image that became a symbol of the bombing.
Timothy McVeigh
CONVICTED
Convicted in 1997 of carrying out the bombing; sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.
Charlie Hanger
LAW ENFORCEMENT
Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped and arrested Timothy McVeigh on Interstate 35 within 90 minutes of the bombing.
Rebecca Anderson
VICTIM
A nurse who volunteered in the rescue effort and died after being struck on the head by falling debris.
Terry Nichols
CONVICTED
Convicted in 1997 of assisting in planning the attack and building the bomb; sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.
Archival records
archival location
DemolishedAMbuilding
Credit: Father of Nehrams2020 · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh detonated a truck bomb outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people and injuring more than 680 others in the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history. McVeigh and accomplice Terry Nichols were convicted in 1997; McVeigh was executed in 2001, and Nichols was sentenced to life without parole.
Where did the bombing happen?
Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Who was convicted?
Timothy McVeigh (Convicted in 1997 of carrying out the bombing; sentenced to death and executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.) and Terry Nichols (Convicted in 1997 of assisting in planning the attack and building the bomb; sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.).
