OKC Bombing

Essay by Brandon0495High School, 12th gradeA, September 2014

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Brandon Bauernfeind

Mr. Butler

Criminology

8/15/2013

Oklahoma City Bombing

On April 19th, 1995 Oklahoma City was the target of one of the deadliest terrorist attacks in history. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City was the main target of this attack. Materials found and used in the everyday life such as diesel fuel, agricultural fertilizers and various other products were used to make the explosive device. The blast from the explosive turned a third of the building into rubble; the north side wall was completely gone, the blast destroyed many cars in the explosion and damaged around 324 buildings surrounding the blast sight (FBI.gov, pp. n.d).

The explosive device was loaded in a truck and parked in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The fuse triggered the blast. According to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) the bomb went off at precisely 9:02 am.

The tuck contained over 4,800 pounds of explosive.

The criminals convicted of this crime are named Timothy McVeigh the main master mind behind this explosion, who was an ex army solider and a security guard. Terry Nichols who was an associate of Timothy McVeigh and also served in the army alongside him. Michael and Lori Fortier also accomplice Timothy to achieve his plan.

The primary motivation behind this explosion was due to the resentment towards the federal government shared by the two convicts. They were particularly unhappy and angry towards the handling of the Waco siege in 1993 and FBI's standoff against Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge in 1992, where Randy's wife and son were killed during the shootout. The Waco siege lasted for almost 51 days, where a simple search warrant executed by the ATF agents against a religious sect called Branch Davidian, led to a gun fight. During...