Timothy McVeigh

Timothy James McVeigh (April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001) was a United States Army veteran and security guard who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995, virtually destroying the face of the building. The Oklahoma City bombing attack killed 168 people and injured over 860 people. It was the deadliest act of terrorism within U.S. territory before the September 11, 2001 attacks. McVeigh had sought revenge against the federal government for its handling of the Waco Siege, which had ended in the deaths of 76 people exactly two years earlier. He had hoped to inspire a revolt against what he considered to be a tyrannical federal government. He was convicted of 11 federal offenses and sentenced to death. His was executed on June 11, 2001 at the Federal Correctional Complex in Terre Haute, Indiana. Terry Nichols and Michael Fortier were also convicted as conspirators in the plot.

Childhood
McVeigh was born in Lockport, New York, the only son and the second of three children of William and Mildred "Mickey" McVeigh. His parents divorced when he was 10 years old and he was raised by his father in Pendleton, New York.

McVeigh claimed to have been bullied at school and that he took refuge in a fantasy world where he imagined retaliating against those bullies. The day he was executed, he stated his belief that the United States government is the ultimate bully.

While in high school, McVeigh became interested in computers and hacked into government computer systems on his Commodore 64, under a handle, "The Wanderer". In his senior year, McVeigh was named Starpoint Central High School's "most promising computer programmer".

McVeigh was introduced to firearms by his grandfather, and told people he wanted to be a gun shop owner and sometimes took firearms to school to impress his classmates. McVeigh became intensely interested in gun rights and the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution after he graduated from high school, and read magazines such as Soldier of Fortune. He briefly attended Bryant & Stratton College before dropping out.

Military life
At age 20, in May 1988, McVeigh enlisted in the United States Army. While in the military, McVeigh used much of his spare time to read about firearms, sniper tactics, and explosives.

McVeigh was awarded a Bronze Star for his service in the first Gulf War. He had been a top-scoring gunner with the 25mm cannon of the Bradley Fighting Vehicles used by the U.S. 1st Infantry Division to which he was assigned.

McVeigh aspired to join the United States Army Special Forces, but he quit and his psychological profiles categorized him as very unsuitable for SF. Shortly thereafter, he was discharged from the Army on December 31, 1991 and was given an honorable discharge from the Army Reserve in May 1992.

Post-military life
After leaving the army in 1992, he worked briefly near his hometown of Pendleton as a security guard, where he sounded off daily to his co-worker Carl Lebron, Jr. about his loathing for government. Deciding the Buffalo area was too liberal, he left his job and began driving around America, seeking out his old friends from the Army.

McVeigh wrote letters to local newspapers complaining about taxes:

"Taxes are a joke. Regardless of what a political candidate "promises," they will increase. More taxes are always the answer to government mismanagement. They mess up. We suffer. Taxes are reaching cataclysmic levels, with no slowdown in sight. [...] Is a Civil War Imminent? Do we have to shed blood to reform the current system? I hope it doesn't come to that. But it might."

McVeigh also wrote to Congressman John J. LaFalce, complaining about the arrest of a woman for carrying mace:

"It is a lie if we tell ourselves that the police can protect us everywhere at all times. Firearms restrictions are bad enough, but now a woman can't even carry Mace in her purse?"

It is claimed that while visiting friends in Michigan, McVeigh complained that the Army had implanted him with a microchip into his buttocks so that the government could keep track of him.

Unable to pay back gambling debts, he took a cash advance and then defaulted on his repayments. He then began looking for a state without heavy government regulation or high taxes. He became enraged when the government informed him that he had been overpaid $1,058 while in the army and he would need to pay back the money. He wrote an angry letter to the government inviting them to:

"Go ahead, take everything I own; take my dignity. Feel good as you grow fat and rich at my expense; sucking my tax dollars and property."

McVeigh ranted to his sister about anti-government literature, comparing the U.S. federal government to Germany under Adolf Hitler's regime, but she and their father had no interest. He moved into an apartment that had no telephone. He also quit the NRA, viewing its stance on gun rights to be too weak.

1993 Waco siege and gun shows
In 1993, he drove to Waco, Texas during the Waco Siege to show his support for the Branch Davidians and that he was against the government. When he first arrived, he was blocked by the ATF and FBI despite McVeigh's arguments that he was traveling on a public road. At the scene, he distributed pro-gun rights literature and bumper stickers, such as "When guns are outlawed, I will become an outlaw." When asked why he was there by Michelle Rauch, a student reporter, he told her:

"The ATF have no right to be here. They just want a chance to play with their 'toys' paid by government money. The government is afraid of the guns people have because they have to have control of the people at all times. Once you take away the guns, you can do anything to the people. You give them an inch and they take a mile. I believe we are slowly turning into a socialist government. The government is continually growing bigger and stronger and we need to protect ourselves against government control."

On April 19, 1993, after a 51 day stalemate, the federal agents stormed the compound, causing a massive fire, which took the lives of 80 Dividians, including 17 children under the age of ten. McVeigh was working on his car at a house when Terry Nichols' brother James came out, screaming: "Tim! Tim! Get in here! It's on fire! It's Waco! The Feds, they've gone in! It's on fire!" They all proceeded into the house to watch the compound burn on television. McVeigh was distraught had what was happening, asking "What has become of America?! It's like Hitler's Germany! F ing Nazis!". Then he told Terry that they had to "do something".

After the bombing, McVeigh told Dr. John Smith, his defense psychiatrist, that on April 19, 1993, he was overcome with anger and rage that he had never before experienced. He didn't show tears for his victims at Oklahoma, but plenty of tears for the children at Waco.

McVeigh spent more time on the gun show circuit, traveling to 40 states and visiting about 80 gun shows. McVeigh found more anti-government sentiment until he got to what he called "The People's Socialist Republic of California."

Profile
The long hours in a dead-end job, the feeling that he did not have a home and his failure to establish a relationship with a woman brought McVeigh to the breaking point. He sought romance, but was rejected by a co-worker and still felt nervous around women. He felt he brought too much pain to his loved ones. He grew angry and sexually frustrated at his difficulties in finding a girlfriend and took up obsessive gambling. Most people who knew McVeigh remember him as being withdrawn, with a few describing him as an outgoing and playful child who withdrew as an adolescent.

McVeigh said that the Army taught him how to switch off his emotions. He had special lifesaving training and may have saved the life of a comrade who had life-threatening shrapnel wounds in the Persian Gulf War.

Michelle Rauch reported on Zero Hour that McVeigh was worried about the intense presence of the government on "One Man and his followers private lives". McVeigh was very articulate and intelligent.

Criminals Minds
McVeigh was mentioned in the novel Killer Profile. In episode Empty Planet, serial bomber Kenneth Roberts's use of the novel Empty Planet as a guide for his rampage appears to parallel McVeigh, who planned a series of attacks inspired by the novel The Turner Diaries. His mugshot photo appeared in Won't Get Fooled Again.