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Timothy McVeigh Biography

Terrorist

Timothy McVeigh set the bomb which killed 168 people at the federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma on 19 April 1995. The bomb, made of fertilizer and oil packed into the rear of a rented van, destroyed the front half of the building and killed 149 adults and 19 children. McVeigh, who had served in the U.S. Army from 1988-91, was an extreme conservative who later told investigators he was angry over the federal government's clashes with white separatist Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, Idaho in 1992 and with David Koresh and the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas in 1993. McVeigh was convicted of the crime in 1997 and sentenced to death; he later insisted all appeals on his behalf be dropped and asked to be executed. McVeigh's co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, was convicted but sentenced to life in prison. McVeigh was scheduled to be executed by lethal injection on May 16, 2001 in a federal prison in Terre Haute, Indiana. In early May of 2001 the FBI revealed it had withheld from McVeigh's lawyers documents relevant to the case, and the execution was delayed one month. McVeigh was then killed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001.

Extra credit: McVeigh is no relation to Timothy R. McVeigh, the U.S. Navy officer who was discharged in 1997 (though later reinstated) after he was accused of being openly gay.