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Oklahoma City Bombing Case Study

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The Oklahoma City Bombing of 1995 is known to be the “worst act of homegrown [domestic] terrorism in the nation’s history” (FBI, 2010). On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, parked a rented box truck outside of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City. No one knew that, “inside the vehicle was a powerful bomb made out of a deadly cocktail of agricultural fertilizer, diesel fuel, and other chemicals” (FBI, 2010). Before he exited the vehicle and headed towards his getaway car, he ignited two timed fuses – at exactly 9:02AM, the bomb exploded. The explosion killed 168 people, 19 of those being children, and injured nearly 650 (Scott, 2013). One woman, in the CNN television series “Crimes of the Century”, is pictured bloodied and leaving the Oklahoma City building. She told the media that she just “hoped it wasn't an American who was behind the deadly attack” (Scott, 2013). After all, how could an American, or even more outrageous an American “war hero” as McVeigh was, possibly devise a plan to commit mass murder …show more content…

Their objective was to serve a search warrant for illegal firearms and explosives, and arrest the cult’s leader, David Koresh, on weapons charges. Unfortunately, Koresh and his group had been tipped off and were waiting as authorities approached. Without warning, gunfire erupted and law enforcement officials found themselves facing cult members armed with explosive devices, military assault rifles, and other semi-automatic weapons” (CRI Statement). At the end of the 11 day standoff, a fire broke out at the cult compound and killed 76 men, women and children; McVeigh believed the government started the fire and he became enraged (Scott, 2013). This is the exact moment, McVeigh became a domestic

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