On April 19, 1995 at 9:02 AM the city was devastatingly interrupted. The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma was attacked by a terrorist action. A truck lined with a bomb was placed in front of the Murrah building and detonated destroying a third of the building. The Murrah building was not only employed with 550 adults but contained a daycare center as well. This daycare consisted of children of parents that worked at the Murrah building as well as parents that did not. This terrible disaster killed 168 people total including 19 children under the age of 6. Fire fighters, Police officers, and civilians worked day and night to recover bodies of live or dead victims. Nurses, doctors, and other hospital staff worked from dawn to dusk treating the injured survivors, and ones that would never make it out of the hospital alive. Many people helped search and clean, while others fought of stray animals and comforted families and friends. This was when our country pulled together to be a family.
After more than two weeks, on May 5th the city declared the search for bodies to be over and the ones left in the now destroyed building would have their forever burial site. At this point it was time to bring down the building for clean up and to protect any one else from being trapped inside. Before the building was knocked down entirely people from all over came for a one last look. Just weeks before this area was majorly chaotic with cries and screams, with debri and frantic civilians, and now the entire community stood still and quiet. A long moment of silence for the fallen, for the victims, for the survivors, for the family and friends, and for the brave souls working to make things right again.
The next thing for the country to do is to find the criminal that could do such a monstrosity to the innocent people. After only two days of investigation the criminal was behind bars, Timothy McVeigh. This was still only the beginning, why did he do it, how did he do it, and did someone help him? This long process felt like an eternity to the survivors and the victims families but Timothy McVeigh was eventually convicted of eleven federal offenses and sentenced to death. He was executed on June 11, 2001. The investigators were able to find out that McVeigh sought out revenge against the government for the way things were handled in the Waco Siege exactly two years earlier.
This time of disaster was the most serious act of domestic terrorism in the US history and the deadliest act of terrorism in the US prior to the 9/11 attacks. This disaster was what brought Oklahoma and our country together as one. This is where everyone saw that we have caring and dedicated citizens. This has been done, but will never be forgotten.
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