Timothy Mcveigh

Timothy McVeigh masterminded the worst terrorist act ever perpetrated by an American citizen, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995. He was raised in a rural community in upstate New York after his parents separated [Page 303]in 1978. A loner in high school, McVeigh enlisted in the army in 1988 and rose through the ranks to platoon leader. In 1991, after winning a Bronze Star in the Persian Gulf War, he failed to complete Green Beret school, increasing his dissatisfaction with the government.

In 1993, McVeigh began a nomadic life, selling guns at shows throughout the United States. He traveled to Waco, Texas, during the standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidian cult and was incensed at the outcome, blaming the government when the cult resorted to suicide.

Although never linked to militant antigovernment groups, McVeigh soon began planning revenge for the Waco deaths. He enlisted the help of army buddy Terry Nichols, and they took steps to build and place a bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, from which McVeigh mistakenly believed the government order for the Waco assault had originated.

On April 19, 1995, McVeigh parked a rented Ryder trunk at the north side of the Federal Building, and minutes later, a fertilizer and fuel oil bomb exploded, immediately collapsing about a third of the building and killing 168 people. In 1998, he was convicted and on June 11, 2001, was executed by lethal injection.