Back Oklahoma City-bomaanval Afrikaans تفجير مدينة أوكلاهوما Arabic Atentáu d'Oklahoma City AST Oklahoma hücumu Azerbaijani Атентат в Оклахома Сити Bulgarian Atemptat d'Oklahoma City Catalan ھێرشی شاری ئۆکلاھۆما CKB Bombový útok v Oklahoma City Czech Ffrwydrad Dinas Oklahoma Welsh Oklahoma City-bombningen Danish

Oklahoma City bombing

Oklahoma City bombing
Aftermath of the bombing.
Aftermath of the bombing.
LocationAlfred P. Murrah Federal Building
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, U.S.
Coordinates35°28′22″N 97°31′01″W / 35.47278°N 97.51694°W / 35.47278; -97.51694
DateApril 19, 1995; 29 years ago (1995-04-19)
9:02 a.m. CDT (UTC-05:00)
TargetU.S. federal government
Attack type
Truck bombing, mass murder, domestic terrorism, right-wing terrorism
Weapons
Deaths
  • 167–168 direct deaths[a]
  • 1 indirect[b]
Injured684[1]–759[2]
PerpetratorsTimothy James McVeigh and Terry Lynn Nichols
MotiveAnti-government sentiment; retaliation for the Ruby Ridge standoff, Waco siege and Federal Assault Weapons Ban

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, on April 19, 1995, the second anniversary of the end to the Waco siege. The bombing remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.

Perpetrated by anti-government extremists Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind,[3][4][5] and Terry Nichols, the bombing occurred at 9:02 a.m. and killed 167 people, injured 684, and destroyed more than one-third of the building, which had to be demolished. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings and caused an estimated $652 million worth of damage.[6][7][8] Local, state, federal, and worldwide agencies engaged in extensive rescue efforts in the wake of the bombing. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) activated 11 of its Urban Search and Rescue Task Forces, consisting of 665 rescue workers.[9][10] A rescue worker was killed indirectly after being struck on the head by falling debris after the bombing.[2][1]

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrolman Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for illegal weapons possession.[11][12] Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested,[13] and within days, both were charged. Michael and Lori Fortier were later identified as accomplices. McVeigh, a veteran of the Gulf War and a sympathizer with the U.S. militia movement, had detonated a Ryder rental truck full of explosives he parked in front of the building. Nichols had assisted with the bomb's preparation. Motivated by his dislike for the U.S. federal government and its handling of Ruby Ridge in 1992 and the Waco siege in 1993, McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the fire that ended the siege in Waco as well as the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the first engagements of the American Revolution.[14][15] Though not confirmed to be a direct connection to the bombing, white supremacist Richard Snell, who was executed that same day, previously expressed a desire to blow up the Murrah Federal Building 12 years before the bombing took place.[16][17]

The official FBI investigation, known as "OKBOMB", involved 28,000 interviews, 3,200 kg (7,100 lbs) of evidence, and nearly one billion pieces of information.[18] When the FBI raided McVeigh's home, they found a telephone number that led them to a farm where McVeigh had purchased supplies for the bombing.[19][20][21] The bombers were tried and convicted in 1997. McVeigh was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison in 2004. In response to the bombing, the U.S. Congress passed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, which limited access to habeas corpus in the United States, among other provisions.[22] It also passed legislation to increase the protection around federal buildings to deter future terrorist attacks.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference :0 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference CasualtyLocation was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Eatwell, Roger; Mudde, Cas, eds. (2004). Western Democracies and the New Extreme Right Challenge. Routledge Studies in Extremism and Democracy. London: Routledge. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-415-55387-2.
  4. ^ Flowers, R. Barri; Flowers, H. Lorraine (2004). Murders in the United States: Crimes, Killers and Victims of the Twentieth Century. McFarland & Company. p. 106. ISBN 0-7864-2075-8.
  5. ^ Hulme, Derick L. (2020). The Domestic Politics of Terrorism: Lessons from the Clinton Administration. Lanham: Lexington Book. p. 126. ISBN 978-1-7936-0998-4. OCLC 1124352627.
  6. ^ Oklahoma City Police Department Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building Bombing After Action Report (PDF). Terrorism Info. p. 58. Archived from the original (PDF) on July 3, 2007.
  7. ^ "Case Study 30: Preventing glass from becoming a lethal weapon". Safety Solutions Online. Archived from the original on February 13, 2007. Retrieved February 3, 2007.
  8. ^ Hewitt, Christopher (2003). Understanding Terrorism in America: From the Klan to al Qaeda. Routledge. p. 106. ISBN 978-0-415-27765-5.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference USDJ2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ "FEMA Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) Summaries" (PDF). Federal Emergency Management Agency. p. 64. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 27, 2006.
  11. ^ "Timothy McVeigh is apprehended". NBC News Report. April 22, 1995. Archived from the original (Video, 3 minutes) on October 12, 2013.
  12. ^ Ottley, Ted (April 14, 2005). "License Tag Snag". truTV. Archived from the original on August 29, 2011.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference TerrorFamily was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Feldman, Paul (June 18, 1995). "Militia Groups Growing, Study Says Extremism: Despite negative publicity since Oklahoma bombing, membership has risen, Anti-Defamation League finds". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on July 25, 2012. Retrieved April 7, 2010.
  15. ^ "McVeigh offers little remorse in letters". The Topeka Capital-Journal. Associated Press. June 10, 2001. Archived from the original on May 27, 2012. Retrieved June 1, 2009.
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference may1995 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ "The Oklahoma City Bomb Trial: The Denver Post Online". extras.denverpost.com. Retrieved March 22, 2024.
  18. ^ "Oklahoma City Bombing". Federal Bureau of Investigation. Retrieved April 7, 2023.
  19. ^ Serano, Richard. One of Ours: Timothy McVeigh and the Oklahoma City Bombing. pp. 139–141.
  20. ^ "Lessons learned, and not learned, 11 years later". NBC News. Associated Press. April 16, 2006.
  21. ^ Hamm, Mark S. (1997). Apocalypse in Oklahoma. Northeastern University Press. p. vii. ISBN 978-1-55553-300-7.
  22. ^ Doyle, Charles (June 3, 1996). "Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996: A Summary". FAS. Archived from the original on March 14, 2011. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
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