Anniversary Date of Oklahoma City Bombing

I can still vividly recall the morning of April 19, 1995, when the Oklahoma City Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed by domestic terrorist Timothy McVeigh and co-conspirator Terry Nichols.

As someone born and raised in Oklahoma City, I was driving along the nearby I-40 cross town. We were detoured away from the downtown area that showed a large black cloud of smoke rising into the sky. I couldn’t imagine what had happened. I stared with a blank and confused gaze onto my city’s center.

The thirteen barrels, each containing an explosive, chemical concoction and with a combined weight of approximately 7,000 pounds, were placed in a rented 1993 Ford F-700 Ryder truck.

McVeigh parked  this vehicle of mass destruction in front of the Murrah building. His choice of a parking spot, a drop-off point directly under the building’s day-care center, was further evidence of his incomprehensibly evil and heartless nature; a man who did not even pity the life of children.

The blast killed 168 people, including 19 children under the age of 6.

My once safe home town of Oklahoma City became forever changed at the time of the explosion, as of 9:02 am CDT. A clock, that was stopped at the exact time of terror’s start, can be viewed at the Bombing Memorial Museum. The blast was felt up to 55 miles away and the damage covered a sixteen-block radius. (This included my sister’s office. Fortunately, though windows were blown out, no one in her office was hurt.)

McVeigh claimed not to have known of the innocent children in the day care, but it is believed he was lying and that, in fact, McVeigh was fully aware of the presence of the daycare and its location when he planned his attack.