Good Example Of Legacy In Ruins: The Oklahoma City Bombing Essay

[University/Institutional Affiliation]
Who could ever forget the ill-fated April 19, 1995? In the downtown of Oklahoma, a building which was once a legacy of the first Native American who became the youngest federal judge in the history of the United States of America turned into ruins. It was the Alfred P. Murrah Federal building during the aforementioned date was blown by a rental truck which was filled with explosives. The bombing in the history of Oklahoma is the worst terror as it killed 168 people which included 19 children. The children were reported to be day care pupils who were busy inside their classrooms during the bombing. Aside from that, 650 people were injured, and around 300 buildings nearby were blasted. After 18 years since 1977, the legacy of the first native to become a federal judge was lost. The pride that was once standing tall became a memory of the ill-fated 19th of April.
A witch hunt for the perpetrator was a success when finally the authorities were able to turn in the prime suspect of wrath. It was Timothy McVeigh, a 27-year-old former U.S. soldier who served during the Persian Gulf War. After the U.S. army downsized during the fall of the Soviet Union, McVeigh accepted an early retirement in 1991. It was later found out that he became actively engaging with a terrorist right-wing survivalist group based in Michigan. From being a staunch hater of Communism and supporter of the hegemony of America, he turned to be very suspicious of his country. The terrorist group that McVeigh was involved is connected to several attacks.
McVeigh was not alone in carrying out the terror attack. He was only the one who drove the rental truck in the federal building and left immediately before the explosives detonated. Before carrying out the attack against the people, McVeigh planned it with Nichols who was later convicted with a life sentence for the man slaughter. McVeigh and Nichols were squealed by a person named Fortier who was a former comrade of McVeigh during the U.S. army days. Fortier testified to the authorities that he knew about the plan. He was still charged with 12 years in prison for having concealed the plan until it was carried out slaughtering more than a hundred people. McVeigh in 2001 chose to be executed than furthering his case in court. He was then executed through a lethal injection on June 11, 2001 at the age of 33. An article from the CNN stated that McVeigh was the first to be executed for federal crime since 1963. Fortier was released from prison in 2007 and now in the security of the U.S. witness protection program.
After the case was finally solved, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) claimed that it was the most exhaustive investigation it has ever conducted. According to the FBI article entitled “Terror Hits Home: The Oklahoma City Bombing,” they did not leave any stone unturned in order to make sure that all culprits are identified. The investigation ended with 28,000 interviews, three and a half tons of evidence, and reviewed almost a billion of information. FBI described the bombing as the “worst act of home-grown terrorism in the nation’s history.”
After the exhaustive investigation and trial, some groups were questioning the facts of the bombing and the indictment of McVeigh saying that the latter was seen in a fast food chain minutes before the bombing and some facts. Regardless of the doubts into the bombing, it still is one among the shocking events in the U.S. history. From a being a legacy of the youngest federal judge hailing from the Native American roots, the building now served as a memorial museum for the 168 lost souls. It is now a memory of terror of the 19th of April.

References

A&E Television Network. (2015). “Oklahoma City Bombing.” History. Retrieved from http://www.history.com/topics/oklahoma-city-bombing
Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Terror Hits Home: The Oklahoma City Bombing.” fbi.org. Retrieved from http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/history/famous-cases/oklahoma-city-bombing
CNN Library. (2014). “Oklahoma City Bombing Fast Facts.” cnn.com. Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/09/18/us/oklahoma-city-bombing-fast-facts/