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Oklahoma City Bombing Research Paper

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Oklahoma City Bombing: 1995

Mary Kate Hudson
EMGT 616 – Spring 2015 A rental truck was filled with improvised explosive devices and was left in front of a busy federal building in Oklahoma City. The aftermath of the explosions left over 150 people dead and many more severely injured. This was the worst case of domestic terrorism that the country had seen to date.

Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building
The Murrah building was named after an Oklahoma federal judge Alfred P. Murrah. It was designed and created in March of 1977 out of reinforced concrete (Locke). The building had nine floors that contained 16 federal buildings including the Social Security Administration, Secret Service, Drug Enforcement Administration, Alcohol, Tobacco, …show more content…
The bombing materials were placed inside sixteen fifty-five gallon barrels. When he was approximately five minutes from the site he lit a five minute fuse and then he lit the two minute fuse. He parked the truck out to the Murrah building near the main entrance in a drop off zone. McVeigh got into his planted getaway car and left the scene. At 9:02am the explosion occurred, forever changing Oklahoma City and the nation (OKC-PD).

McVeigh, while in the getaway car was fleeing the scene. A state trooper coincidentally pulled over his vehicle for driving without a license plate. He was also unlawfully carrying a weapon without a license (OKC-PD). While more information was being released, the authorities realized they had their terrorist already behind bars. Motivation and …show more content…
These legislations include the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996. This act was “to deter terrorism, provide justice for victims, provide for an effective death penalty, and for other purposes.” The second was the Victim Allocution Clarification Act of 1997. This act “allows the victims of the bombing (and the victims of any other future acts of violence) the right to observe trials and to offer impact testimony in sentencing hearings” (Condon, 2004).

Building security and construction standards rapidly changed as well. Overall, 52 security improvements were made. During the after action reporting they decided that there should be no way that a vehicle should be able to closely approach a federal building, or any building the way McVeigh did. They also realized that areas need to be more closely monitored. Some of these new improvements and standards include physical barriers, closed-circuit television monitoring, site planning and access, etc (Nadel).

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