optimism. his integrity, his clarity and his love for his family. he was the real deal. oklahoma city lies at the geographic heart of the country. more small town than big city, it's probably the last place you would pick to be targeted for destruction. then came the morning of april 19th, 1995. >> good morning, in this proceeding with regard to application 95-501 for a ground light permit.

we'll present evidence, hear evidence from the applicant. with regard to to this proceeding, there are four elements that i have to receive information regarding. >> debris and fire on the ground. we'll go around the other side to get a better view of it. wow, holy cow. 1/3rd of the building has been blown away. >> it was staggering the potential casualties and deaths and i remember saying god, i don't want to die today. >> it was a terrifying attack. >> i was so hoping that it was not an american. >> that left an entire nation disillusioned. >> it was an act of cowardess and it was eeville. >> it was a game-changer. >> it's the worst act of domestic derris m in american history, perpetrated by one of our own, a decorated army

veteran of the gulf war. the oklahoma city bombing, next. i'm ready. okay. let's go. watch the electricity. hurry! okay. i'm ready. >> okay. let's go. tammy, you can see thick black smoke billowing from the federal court building downtown. >> we're seeing literally dozens of people that are bleeding. some of them you can't even make them out. they are so badly injured. >> the impact was immediate and

nationwide. >> an explosion in oklahoma city with worldwide implications and enormous consequences. >> the bombing sent shock waves through washington. >> there is increased security nationwide. >> the pentagon has activated the emergency disaster response. >> it could be a contractor. it could be a whaacko. it could be a professional. you don't have to be a rocket scientists to create this kind of bomb. >> as the smoke began to clear, two questions reverberated across the country, who and why? the answers would be shocking. the man behind the devastation was an american. his name timothy mcveigh. >> tim mcveigh was one of ours. a war hero and grew up in the suburbs of buffalo. we needed to know. it was a sense, obligation to find out who this man was.

>> timothy mcveigh was born on april 23rd, 1968. in lockport, new york. in all accounts he had an ordinary childhood. >> we were never told anything that would have given you warning that he was going to do something like this. in fact, as a teenager, he was the young man that people in the neighborhood would choose to babysit their kids. >> he was a good student. he was bright, above average intelligence, sometimes you look at the history of severe criminal conduct, and there is childhood abuse or abandonment and you can see how someone developed into it. nothing striking in mcveigh's background. >> but the young mcveigh did have a dark side. while still a teenager, he discovered the turner diaries, a venomously racist novel lead by white supremacist against a federal government. >> it describes a truck bombing of fbi headquarters in

washington, d.c., shortly after 9:00 in the morning, sounding very similar to what took place in oklahoma city on april 19th, 1995. >> if timothy mcveigh was looking to make a statement, then he had succeeded in the worst way possible. >> debris, glass. it looks as though emergency crews are on the scene. >> the incredible explosion that ripped apart the nine-story alfred p. murrah building with roughly two tons of tnt. the air inside was whipped into a turning tornado on glass shards and choking black smoke. one floor pancaked onto the next trapping and crushing men and women below. the second floor held a daycare center. the lucky ones staggered into the street, some barely alive. >> standing by.

>> i saw a yellow flash, and then everything went pitch black. >> the force of the blast bent me over my desk. >> the whole back of the building just fell in on us. everyone along our set of offices has back injuries, head injuries, bleeding, glass. >> i felt pain on my left side of my face, and popping noises, and it was the glass shards. >> they just kept falling. it was a horrible noise, horrible noise.

>> i remember saying, god, i don't want to die today, and i don't want to die in this building and if it's all right with you, i'd like to die later. >> felt like an earthquake. something actually shook our television station, that's five miles away. >> in the first frantic minutes, no one was quite sure what had caused the explosion. >> initially, we thought it might have been a gas explosion because we had to evacuate the office two or three weeks earlier because there was a gas leak downtown. >> i thought that a war had started. i thought that oklahoma city had been bombed, that we had been attacked by another country. >> i thought that the explosion was an atom i can blast from tinker air force base. >> i was trying to make sense out of it. i did not think it was a bomb.

you. >> they have dog teams here searching for survivors and for bodies. >> scores of people have been killed out right and hundreds more injured. the blast radius encompasses a 16-mile area but the murrah building is ground zero. >> the bureau of alcohol and tobacco and firearms was headquartered there and some of its members are missing. >> social security was located there, a child care center located there. initial estimates coming in was that perhaps there had been a thousand people. it was staggering the potential casualties and deaths that could have been caused by this bombing. everything around the building was still on fire. cars across the street were on fire. the trees that were there were on fire.

>> people at this hour are literally trapped in the alfred murrah building in downtown oklahoma city. >> get back. >> they have found a bomb in the building. >> 90 minutes after the blast, a new panic radiates across the streets when first responders come across what appears to be a second bomb. the rescue operation is suspended and a four-block area is evacuated. it is thankfully a false alarm but precious moments have been lost. by the time the rescue resumes, investigators have swarmed the area. >> first question has been answered, was this just a freak accidental explosion of some kind or was it intentional? we know now. >> it is quickly determined that the explosion at the federal building was caused by a truck bomb.

>> there are certain things you can look for, particularly in the case of a large vehicle bomb. there was roughly a 32-foot crater in the street. it appeared to be just about dead center of the block. >> then investigators get the first big break. they learn that a rear axle housing that probably came from the truck bomb has landed around 200 yards from the bomb site. >> i heard something coming in the air and when it hit the car, it knocked it back to the set of doors here and i looked in front of my car and there was that axle. i said there is a car bomb. >> early indications are the bomb was a half-ton homemade bomb made of common fertilizer and fuel oil. >> fortunately, the axle housing contains the truck's confidential vehicle identification number. >> using that number, we were able to trace the vehicle itself

and identify it as a ford motor product that had been made for ryder motor company. >> the ryder company informs the fbi this particular truck was assigned to elliott's body shop in junction city, kansas, north of oklahoma city. fbi agents found the truck had to be rented two days earlier. >> the rental documents themselves showed that it was rented by a robert bob cling. we had no idea who robert cling was or whether he was a real person. >> an employee provides a detailed description of cling and another man he believed was with him. who was robert cling, and why had he just murdered nearly 200 men, women and children? within 24 hours, the nation would learn the stunning truth. >> let there be no room for doubt. we will find the people who did this.

it's one of the most terrifying days in american history. >> devastating, smoke and debris and fire on the ground there are numerous injuries. >> the human toll is overwhelming. 168 people killed, at least 650 injured. among the dead are 19 children. >> there is very little hope for those who are left in that building. >> the oklahoma city bombing will go down in history as one of those elemental moments that people will remember where they were at the time. >> this is the grizzly meticulous search effort to find bodies. >> less than 90 minutes after the blast, about 75 miles north of oklahoma city, state trooper charlie hanger stops a 1977

mercury marquise for not having a license plate. the driver of the car is one james timothy mcveigh. >> he was clean-cut, military-type appearance, a short haircut and a light wind breaker jacket on slipped and as he removed the wallet that jacket tightened up and i saw a budge that appeared to be a weapon and i grabbed the bulge on the outside of the jacket and i instructed him to get his hands up and he said my weapon is leaded and i nudged him and said so is mine. >> he arrested mcveigh for carrying a concealed weapon, never imaging his prisoner is the oklahoma city bomber. initially, the name mcveigh means nothing to bomb investigators.

they are looking for robert kling, the man that rented the ryder truck in junction city, kansas. >> it seems hard to believe that all this destruction was the work of only two men. >> the next day, armed with sketches of kling and use suspected companion, law enforcement officers canvass the entire area. >> one agent was assigned the dreamland motel and when he walked in, he talked to the owner of that particular place and ask her, has anyone been in here that had a ryder truck with them? and she said, actually, there was here recently. the agent decided to show her the artist conception and she looked at and it said that really looks like the fellow that rented room 25. >> he had rented the room in the name of tim mcveigh. the ryder rental truck was rented in the name of robert kling so there was the question which is the true name, if either were the true name. >> so we do a record search to see if any timothy mcveighs have

been arrested anywhere in the united states recently, and to our surprise, we learned that a timothy mcveigh was arrested in noble county, 75 miles north of oklahoma city and arrested the morning of the bombing. it turned out he was still there but was getting ready to be released on bail but we put a hold on him until our agents could get there to interview him. was this the same timothy mcveigh that was at the dreamland motel? at this point we don't necessarily know. our agents tried to interview timothy mcveigh. when they approached him, they ask him do you know what we're here for? he said probably about that oklahoma city thing and he gave us his name, rank and serial number and refused to talk to us anymore. >> in washington, attorney general janet reno announces the arrest.

>> i'm pleased to announce that one of the individuals believed to be responsible for wednesday's terrible attack has been arrested. i remind everyone that john doe number two remains at large. >> you murderer! >> when mcveigh is taken from the local courthouse to be transported to oklahoma city, he is met by an angry crowd and screams of baby killer. >> rot in jail. >> is it the act of someone which the united states government is ill? >> i was so hoping it was not an american. >> it's hard to believe americans blowing up americans. >> it just boggled my mind. >> what tim mcveigh did was the worst act of domestic terrorism in american history.

the entire country was shocked and riveted that someone could come from white bred and commit a hellacious act. >> i have a daughter that is three and to think she will grow up in this is scary. >> investigators are certain that mcveigh is the john doe number one in the police sketch, but they still have not identified john doe number two. >> john doe number two, if the fbi can't find him, does he exist? >> fbi chief sent this message, there is no place on earth where you will be safe. >> the michigan address on mcveigh's driver's license is the home of a man named james nickels. it's a critical development. nickels brother terry has been close friend s with mcveigh since they served together in the army. like mcveigh, nickles is known to harbor anti-government views. >> nickles days before the blast took out a new insurance policy on his pickup truck.

>> an arrest warrant is quickly issued and later that same day nickles turns himself in. by now, the rescue operation at the murrah building has become a recovery effort. >> authorities in this building behind me are coming across more bodies. >> the search for bodies will last for two full weeks. >> most of the survivors wanted to go to most of the funerals, and that's tough going to 16 funerals, let me tell you. that was really hard, but we needed to do it. >> two women are believed to be still in the building with an elderly man. >> finally, on may 5th, 1995 with three victims still buried in the rubble, the search comes to an end. >> this was not two or three people from this city or two or three people from that city. this was oklahoma city. the terrorism was directed at

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unisom sleeptabs help you fall asleep 33% faster and wake refreshed. unisom. a stressful day deserves a restful night. on april 21st, 1995, timothy mcveigh is arrested and charged with the bombing of the alfred p. murrah federal building in oklahoma city. steven jones is appointed as

mcveigh's public defender. jones immediately denies the possibility of an insanity defense. >> timothy mcveigh was not insane. he was rational. he was interviewed by psychologist and psychologists and didn't have an emotional disorder. >> the question comes up, why is a nonmentally ill individual going to conduct a bombing which kills hundreds of people? >> i don't want people to misread what i'm about to say, but i was surprise how affable and how likable he appeared to be for a man that killed 168 people in cold blood. >> reporters dan herbeck and lu michelle spent more than 70 hours interviewing mcveigh trying to get inside about what led him to become a terrorist. a turning point is in 1988 when he joins the army.

while stationed in georgia, he and his roommate michael bond with their platoon leader terry nichols over a shared distrust of the federal government. >> mcveigh took an instant liking to him and loved hearing nickles spout off about theories about government and politics. >> mcveigh serves during operation desert storm in 1991 and is awarded a bronze star for valor. during his service he kills two enemy combatants. >> one thing he bragged about in saudi arabia in war he was a gunner on a bradley and told me one time about when he was shooting at a bunker and a guy came out waving his hands to surrenderer and mcveigh started shooting at him with a .25 millimeter. he said it was 1100 meters and the first round hit him in the head. >> after returning from the war,

mcveigh hopes to join the special forces but quits because he's physically unprepared. >> one of mcveigh's goals from early on in entering the army was special forces. when it didn't work out for him with the special forces, he lost his focus. >> mcveigh is discharged from the army on december 31st, 1991. he drifts around the country taking odd jobs and attending gun shows. >> he was totally against any kind of gun control. he was totally in favor of government leaving people alone, and letting them do what they want to do. >> distrust of a large central government goes back to our independence. it is written into our constitution. the problem is when it's taken

to it's extremes and timothy mcveigh was the extreme of that ideology. >> but he doesn't seem to be destructive until two tragic events in the early 1990s excite mcveigh to embrace violence. in august 1992, deputy u.s. marshals and fbi agents are involved in a deadly confrontation in northern idaho with an alleged white supremacist named randy weaver. weaver is expected of selling illegal firearms. is during an 11-day standoff, weaver's son, his wife and a deputy u.s. marshal are killed. then on february 28th, 1993, following a gun battle between the atf and members of a religious group, federal agents lay siege to the group's compound near waco, texas. a suspected cash of illegal weapons is at the center of the conversy.

controversy. >> mcveigh was absolutely enraged over those incidents but one thing that pushed him over the edge and turned him into a terrorist is the waco incident. >> at one point, mcveigh drives to waco to observe the siege. >> he went and parked his car nearby and selling anti-government pamphlets, giving interviews to at least one reporter back then about how much he distrusted the u.s. government. >> during an assault by the fbi on april 19th, the branch compound is engulfed by fire. at least 76 men, women and children die during the inferno. >> mcveigh told us that he was convinced that the u.s. government purposely murdered women and children at the waco compound. it was all part of an effort to destroy gun rights in america.

>> the twig triggering moment was waco. he was there, and he decided that the government had gone too far. >> he was going to start his own war. >> and the first strike would be aimed at the heart of the country. for mcveigh and his army buddy terry nicoles, targeting a government building was dramatic and symbolic. they chose the alfred p. murrah that housed 14 agencies, the secret service, dea and atf. >> mcveigh believed that his bombing would be the opening salvo in a conflict against an illegitimate federal government that needed to be brought down to its knees.

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on august 10th, 1995 a federal grand jury charges timothy mcveigh and terry nicole nichols with 11 criminal counts including eight counts of murder. that figure is based upon the number of federal law enforcement officials killed in the blast. on april 24th, 1997, two years after the bombing, mcveigh's

trial begins in denver, colorado. the prosecution presents first and lays out a timeline of events that led up to the bombing. by mid 1994, mcveigh and nichols along with their army friend michael fortee were ready to put their plan into action. mcveigh decided the most effective weapon would be a truck bomb. in september 1994, mcveigh and nichols begin stockpiling amoan yes, ma'am nitrate, a fertilizer often used in truck bombs. >> you combine the ammonia nitrate and fuel and you have an

explosive mixture. it's cheap, readily available and it's not particularly complicated to make. >> over the next few months, the two men start quietly gathering more components, including racing fuel, explosive charges, and 544 blasting caps they steal from a quarry in kansas. then that december, mcveigh and michael fortee go to oklahoma city to case the murrah building. >> we know for certain that mcveigh examined multiple federal buildings. he in particularly scouted out the murrah building on multiple occasions. we know that because he took michael fortee directly to the murrah building and said after his examination of all of the potential targets, this was the one that he was going to hit. >> mcveigh picks april 19th as the date, known as patriots' day, it's revered by many in the right wing anti-government movement. >> on april 19th, you have the first shot fired in lexington in the american revolution. on that day waco occurs in 1993

and two years later, mcveigh blows up his truck bomb in front of the murrah building. >> at some point, fortee decides to not take part in the bombing. in fact, in a later plea bargain, he will agree to testify against his co-conspirators. in march 1995 mcveigh creates a fake driver's license with robert d. kling and a birthday of april 14th. he buys a 1977 mercury from a used car dealer in kansas. the next day mcveigh reserves the ryder truck using the robert d. kling alias. >> on april 16th they drive the mercury to oklahoma city. mcveigh parks several blocks away from the murrah building. he removes the license plate from the car.

not abandoned. please do not tow. will remove by april 23rd. needs battery and cable. two days later, mcveigh and nichols rendezvous where they assemble the bomb in the truck. >> the ammonia nitrate would have been mixed in barrels, something kin to a 5-gallon plastic barrel. the barrels were then likely connected with the detonating cord that led to boosters and that detonating cord would come together where the caps were. >> but at the last minute, terry nichols, like michael fortee, bails out. >> as time grew near to the time of the bombing, nichols got cold feet. he decided he didn't want to do that and decided that he was

going too far. mcveigh screamed at him, threatened him, may have threatened to kill him. >> on the morning of april 19th, mcveigh now on his own drives the ryder truck into oklahoma city. at 8:57 a.m., security cameras at the regency tower apartment building catch the ryder truck across the street. investigators surmise this is when mcveigh lights the first fuse. a few minutes later, mcveigh moves the truck up, lights the second fuse and parks on the north side of the murrah building. he then exits the truck and begins walking rapidly to the yellow mercury parked four blocks away. at the federal building, the workday is starting. hundreds of people are already inside.

>> explosion downtown. >> about a third of the building has been blown away. >> the whole front of the federal building is gone. >> mcveigh is only two blocks away when the bomb detonates, but he makes it to the getaway car and heads north on interstate 35, where he is soon stopped for driving a vehicle without tags. among the items found after his arrest is a business card for a military supply store. on the back is a handwritten note, tnt at $5 a stick, need more. >> there is no question in my mind that timothy mcveigh wanted to get caught, wanted to become a martyr, wanted the u.s. government to execute him. he left a trail of bread crumbs for the federal agents. he was seeking the deluxe suicide by cop execution package.

as nearly 2500 news people begin to settle in for the trial outside the federal courthouse, so is the city of denver. >> during his trial, timothy mcveigh does not deny that he set the truck bomb. he instructs his lawyers to use a necessity defense, that he acted in self-defense against an oppressive federal government. >> mcveigh looked at the federal

trial as a multi million dollar soapbox for his anti-government views, that he felt he had no choice but to blow up a building and kill 168 people. >> is everything still all right? >> great. >> you have no complaints? >> they resolve every problem that i bring up. >> okay. so the situation here is a lot better than it was? good, good. >> in his distorted view, his actions were a justifiable response to violence perpetrated to the government by its own people. >> defense attorney steven jones knew a necessity case was unwinnable so he chose a different course, arguing that mcveigh was only part of a much larger conspiracy. >> the greatest mystery of the oklahoma city bombing case is who else, besides tim mcveigh, terry nichols and michael fortier were involved because there were most assuredly others. >> there was a man reportedly seen with mcveigh at the truck

rental company. known as john doe number two, the description did not fit nichols or michael fortier. investigators concluded that john doe number two never existed. >> we found a gentleman that had been in there that generally fit the description of john doe number two but it was on a different day. he had been there on a different day with a friend who had rented a ryder truck. so we realized, it was a misidentification of people chance posing two different events and putting two different occurrences together. >> mcveigh swore to us over and over again that there was no john doe number two, no one was with him on the day of the bombing. the biggest misconception out there about the oklahoma city bonl bombing, in my view, is that this was something that

sprang from the brain of timothy mcveigh, was masterminded by timothy mcveigh and substantially carried out by timothy mcveigh with the help of nichols. >> if there were other people involved with the bombing, who were they? some believe there may have been a connection between mcveigh and a city, a christian identity city in northeastern oklahoma, about 170 miles from oklahoma city near the arkansas boarder. >> it's essentially a religion that says that white americans are the true children of israel and jews are subhuman essentially and fat people are not even human at all. >> during the early 1990s a number of far right extremist reportedly spent time in elehim city. >> this was an interesting time city. >> this was an interesting tioh city. >> this was an interesting time. you had a number of anti-government groups that were taking shape, arming themselves, building compounds throughout the country, establishing their

own laws, really setting themselves apart from mainstream cities and locations on purpose and believing that not only people of other faiths or ethnicities or nationalities were the enmu but that the united states government was the biggest enemy. >> the question that recurs is what was the connection between timothy mcveigh and the city? he never went there. there are people that claim to have seen mcveigh at elohim city and probably the strongest evidence that he was there is a ticket he received from an arkansas highway patrolman about four miles into oklahoma on a road that takes you straight to

elohim city? >> timothy mcveigh made calls to elohim city. he drove near the area, we know, but beyond that, any connection to elohim city or the notion there were others involved is speculation heaped on top of speculation. >> even assuming others were involved, why would mcveigh so strongly insist that he acted alone with help only from nichols and fortier? >> he believed that in lying, he would protect the others, so they wouldn't be convicted. and he spun a series of lies to shield the others. >> i think it's possible that there were other people that helped along the way, but did not know they were helping with the bombing. but i believe the ones that actually knew what they were working on were the three men that were punished by the government. >> mcveigh, fortier, and

nichols. >> we got him. >> two years and 44 days after the worst terrorist attack on united states soil, a verdict has been rendered in the bombing trial of timothy mcveigh. >> on june 2nd, 1997, timothy mcveigh is found guilty on all 11 counts of murder and conspiracy. he is sentenced to death. >> outside the courthouse in denver, tears, smiles, and all emotions in between. >> later that year, on december 24th, terry nichols is also convicted. he is currently serving life at the federal supermax prison in colorado. for cooperating, michael fortier receives a 12-year sentence. he is now part of the witness protection program. >> people are going to remember timothy mcveigh as a murderer. not a martyr. >> on june 11th, 2001, timothy mcveigh is put to death at the federal correctional complex in

terre haute, indiana. >> timothy james mcveigh has been executed by lethal injection. >> it is the first federal execution in 38 years. >> mcveigh even at the point he was being executed, never flinched, never changed his mind. never expressed regret. but right to the point of his death, mcveigh sustained his belief and did not show remorse.

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off roble avenue. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begins. and of those who believed they had the power to do more. dell is honored to be part of some of the world's great stories. that began much the same way ours did. in a little dorm room -- 2713. ♪ this magic moment ♪

just over a month after the oklahoma city bombing, what was left of the murrah federal building was demolished. today, the site is home to the oklahoma city national memorial and museum. in addition to a reflecting pool, there is a field of empty chairs. 16181 168 hand crafted sculpture s that represent the victims. >> the memorial is a very special place. i think it really is a tribute to those who were killed and those who survived and those changed forever. >> it's just a positive thing that came out of a negative situation that we want people not to forget but realize if a bad thing happens, you can get

through it. >> claudia and jim denny's children, brandon and rebecca, were two of six kids at the daycare center who survived the blast. >> rebecca was in the hospital for ten days, released in pretty decent shape. she looked horrible but she was in pretty good shape. brandon in 1995 spent 126 days hospitalized. about the first 45 days he had four major brain surgeries. they could not tell me for 35 days if brandon would live. they informed us that if he did survive, he would more than likely never walk or talk again. but we have a young man who's now 21 years old and he is a walking and talking example of what miracles are all about. >> the oklahoma city bombing

remains the worst domestic terrorist act in american history. it changed the country in ways that are still being felt. >> people forget how different the world was when the bombing happened and i think it shattered across the world people's feelings of safety and security because if it can happen in oklahoma city, it can happen anywhere. if it can happen to me, it can happen to anyone. >> we became a more cautious society. barriers went up around federal buildings. you have more security, the seeds of homeland security were actually planted by timothy mcveigh. >> there were other changes as well. the attack led to significant engineering improvements that allow buildings to better withstand excessive forces, whether manmade or natural. and legislation passed in the wake of the disaster has given greater voice to the victims and

families left behind by attacks like the oklahoma city bombing. >> timothy mcveigh believed that he was going to cause people to rise up and rebell against the government. this was going to be the start of the revolution and what happened was the total opposite. you saw a community in total support of its law enforcement, of its government and it shows when we put our hearts and our minds together, we can make something good happen out of something terrible. >> but resilience alone can't protect against every threat. events continue to demonstrate that free societies must remain vigilant. the tragic bombing that killed three and injured 250 at the 2013 boston marathon is a stark example.

almost certainly by coincidence, it happened on patriots' day virtually 18 years to the day after timothy mcveigh attacked oklahoma city. he was a brilliant mathematician who hated society. >> he was extremely smart, but socially awkward. >> he started fantasizing about killing people. >> the unabomber left his angry mark of death. >> he orchestrated a vicious bombing spree that killed three, maimed four, and injured 19 others. >> in all sixteen bombs, locations all over the united states. >> i began to think i may not make it. >> his base of operations was crude. >> the cabin was a bomb factory. >> his devices were hideously lethal. >> pieces of wood, nails.