Oklahoma City Bombing
Convicted · 04/19/1995
Attack
Oklahoma City
On April 19, 1995, a truck bomb built from ammonium nitrate and fuel oil exploded outside the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people (including 19 children) and injuring several hundred more. Timothy McVeigh was convicted and executed for the bombing; Terry Nichols was convicted, in both federal and Oklahoma state court, of helping plan and build the bomb; Michael Fortier pleaded guilty to related federal offenses for concealing advance knowledge of the plot. At the time, it was the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
Documented claims
The Department of Justice's Office of the Inspector General described the OKBOMB investigation as "the most significant act of terrorism that had ever taken place in the United States" at the time, and as "the largest criminal investigation ever undertaken by a United States law enforcement agency," with a task force that at its peak included over 200 investigators, prosecutors, and support personnel plus thousands of additional FBI and other law-enforcement personnel nationwide.
- The Oklahoma City Bombing Case: A Review of the FBI's Investigation of Belatedly Discovered Documents (Executive Summary) — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General [Primary]
President Bill Clinton signed the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 on April 24, 1996, stating that "after the tragedy in Oklahoma City, I asked Federal law enforcement agencies to reassess their needs and determine which tools would help them meet the new challenge of domestic terrorism."
- President's Statement on Antiterrorism Bill Signing — The White House (Clinton Administration, National Archives) (04/24/1996) [Primary]
At 9:02 a.m. on April 19, 1995, a roughly 4,800-pound ammonium nitrate/fuel oil bomb loaded into a rented Ryder truck exploded at the north entrance of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, killing 168 people and injuring several hundred more, per the Oklahoma Historical Society and the Department of Justice Office of the Inspector General.
- The Oklahoma City Bombing Case: A Review of the FBI's Investigation of Belatedly Discovered Documents (Chapter 1) — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General [Primary]
- Oklahoma City Bombing — The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture, Oklahoma Historical Society [Corroborating]
Among the 168 people killed were 19 children, most of whom were in the building's second-floor daycare center, according to then-Attorney General John Ashcroft's June 2001 statement on the case.
- Statement of Attorney General John Ashcroft Regarding the Execution of Timothy McVeigh — U.S. Department of Justice (06/06/2001) [Primary]
Relationships
04/19/1995
- The Oklahoma City Bombing Case: A Review of the FBI's Investigation of Belatedly Discovered Documents (Executive Summary) — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General [Primary]
- McVeigh, Nichols and Fortier Indicted in Oklahoma City Bombing — U.S. Department of Justice (08/10/1995) [Corroborating]
04/19/1995
- McVeigh, Nichols and Fortier Indicted in Oklahoma City Bombing — U.S. Department of Justice (08/10/1995) [Primary]
- The Oklahoma City Bombing Case: A Review of the FBI's Investigation of Belatedly Discovered Documents (Executive Summary) — U.S. Department of Justice, Office of the Inspector General [Corroborating]
04/19/1995
- United States v. Fortier (10th Cir.) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit [Primary]