“Whether you wish to admit it or not, when you approve, morally, of the bombing of foreign targets by the U.S. military, you are approving of acts morally equivalent to the bombing in Oklahoma City.”
–Timothy McVeigh
A federal building was blown in April of 1995 due to a bomb explosion planted in a truck by anti-government terrorists. It was considered the worst on U.S. soil until the 9/11 attacks.
The attack was carried out by Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. Army Veteran and Terry Nichols, both part of a radical right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan. The attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma, Oklahoma City took the lives of 168 people, including 19 children who were in the building's daycare centre at the time. Over 600 people sustained major to minor injuries.
Following the attacks, Timothy McVeigh was found to be already in police custody for traffic violations and unlawfully carrying a gun. Fingers were pointed at many militant outfits until he was identified as a primary suspect shortly before he was set to leave jail. His accomplice, Terry Nichols, surrendered later on that day in Kansas.
Their friend, Michael Fortier, who was aware of their plan, testified against them in return for a shorter sentence.
On charges of murder and use of unlawful explosives, McVeigh was sentenced to death and died in 2001 after requesting to be put down with lethal injection and Nichols received 161 life terms and remains in prison. Fortier, on the other hand, got a sentence of 12 years in prison and was released in 2007.