Oklahoma City bombing was one of the worst terrorist acts carried out in the United States. It occurred on April 19, 1995, in downtown Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. One or more terrorists set off a bomb in a truck in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. The explosion destroyed the building and killed 168 people. The victims included 19 children, most of them at a day-care center in the building.
Timothy J. McVeigh and Terry L. Nichols, both United States citizens, were arrested and charged with the crime. The charges said both men made the bomb, and that McVeigh drove the truck to the building and set off the bomb. Earlier, McVeigh and Nichols had publicly expressed strong opposition to the federal government. A third American citizen, Michael Fortier, was charged with aiding McVeigh and Nichols.
Fortier pleaded guilty and agreed to testify in the trials of the two other men. In 1998, he was sentenced to 12 years in prison. He was released in 2006 after his sentence was reduced for good behavior in prison. McVeigh was convicted of murder and conspiracy in 1997 and sentenced to death. He was executed on June 11, 2001. Nichols was convicted of conspiracy and involuntary manslaughter. In 1998, he was sentenced to life in prison without parole.
In 2004, Nichols was brought to trial a second time. His first conviction and sentencing had been in federal court for the deaths of eight federal employees who died in the explosion. But the state of Oklahoma brought murder charges against Nichols for the deaths of all the other victims. State prosecutors sought the death penalty. A jury found Nichols guilty of the murder charges but could not agree on a sentence. The trial judge then sentenced Nichols to life in prison without parole.
The Oklahoma City National Memorial, established on the site of the destroyed building, was dedicated in 2000. A new federal building was completed near the site in 2003.
