Oklahoma City Bombing Case Study

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The Oklahoma City Bombing happened on April 19, 1995. This terrorist attack was the worst terrorist attack to happen before 9/11. The truck was packed with 4,800-pounds of explosives which consisted of diesel-fuel and fertilizer (ammonium nitrate). The bomb was detonated on April 19, 1995 just outside Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in downtown Oklahoma City shortly after 9am (Nacos, 2016). This catastrophic blast killed one hundred sixty-eight people and injured hundreds more (Nacos, 2016). Among all those victims, nineteen children attended a day care located inside the building (Nacos, 2016). Six-hundred fourteen people were also treated from various hospitals and private doctor offices (Krug, Nixon, & Vincent, 1996). This bomb was so powerful it sent a shockwave across the city and destroyed more than 300 buildings in the immediate area (History, 2009). The man who were responsible for this devastating attack was Timothy McVeigh. Timothy McVeigh was a radical anti-government extremist who became against the government after the August 1992 shoot-out between federal agents and Randy Weaver, and the April 19, 1993 inferno near Waco Texas that left 75 members of a Branch Davidian religious dead (History, 2009). McVeigh choose the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building because it housed regional offices for many federal agencies such as Drug Enforcement Agency, the Secret Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms and Explosives. This is also the office that was responsible for launching the initial raid on the Branch Davidian compound (History, 2009). The date was also symbolic to McVeigh and marked the two-year anniversary of the Waco standoff. Theodore Kaczynski was responsible for 16 mail bombs that killed three people and injured 23 over an 18-year span (History, 2010). At the age of sixteen Kaczynski was awarded a scholarship to Harvard University to study Mathematics (History, 2010). Even though he was a very gifted individual, he suffered persistent social and emotional problems. For 25 years, he lived as a hermit with the occasional odd job but mostly living off his land (History, 2010). It was during this time he developed a philosophy of radical environmentalism and militant opposition to modern technology (History, 2010). He also sent rambling and insulting letters to numerous scientists warning them to abandon their research, clearly showing his opposition to modern science and technology. When he tried to get his academic essays on the subject published the rejection from two Chicago-area universities may have pushed him to make and deliver his first mail bomb. Seven more bombs were made over the next five years (History, 2010). Four bombs were sent to universities, one to a professor’s home, one to Boeing Company and one to a computer store in Sacramento. The computer store bomb injured six people and killed one. The Unabomber’s next attack left a witness who described a man wearing aviator glasses and a hooded sweatshirt. This was the first sketch to be released and made Kaczynski fearful of capture and halted his terrorist actions for the next six years (History, 2010). His next bomb was sent to a University of California geneticist personal residence which left him severely injured. Then two days later a similar bomb was sent to a computer science professor at Yale who was also severely injured. A UNABOM Task Force was created through various federal departments. A year later in 1994, a mail bomb killed an advertising executive in his home. Kaczynski had mistakenly targeted him as the man who worked for Exxon Company public relations during the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill (History, 2010). His last attack happened in April 1995 when his bomb killed …show more content…
A massive manhunt happened in North Carolina where his truck was spotted stocking up on supplies. In October 1998, he was officially charged in the three Atlanta bombings. Authorities continued to search for him and Rudolph was even on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives with a $1 million reward for his capture (History, 2009). He spent five years eluding authorities. A police officer found him digging through a grocery store dumpster on May 32, 2003 (History, 2009). He was sentenced to four life terms without the possibility of

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