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Edyn Rolls
Professor Floyd
English 1113, Section 001
16 February 2015
An Oklahoma Obituary
Wednesday April 19, 1995 seemed to be a perfect spring day. The sky was blue,
the breeze was warm. For most Oklahoma City residents their day was beginning with
their usual activities. Hundreds of employees as well as civilians entered the Alfred P.
Murrah Federal Building to conduct their business and get along with their day. Parents
dropped off children at the daycare center located in the Murrah Building and went to
their offices, and others came into the building for meetings or appointments; it was
business as usual. Little did these people know that Timothy McVeigh had a very
different take on what was to be the business of the day.
John Goodman, an Oklahoma City Attorney with an office just south of the
Murrah Building, left home at 8:15 a.m. on what he claimed to be a beautiful April day
(Goodman 2015). Every other Wednesday Mr. Goodman would drop off his car to get it
washed and make the short walk past the Murrah building enroute to his office, and he
planned to do so on that day. He typically made that walk around 9:00 a.m. However, on
this particular day one large raindrop fell on his windshield while he was driving in, and
thinking is might rain, Mr. Goodman decided to wait for another day to have his car
washed. Without realizing how significant that seemingly minor decision was, Mr.
Goodman entered his office and proceeded to begin his workday.

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Timothy McVeigh had been planning his attack on the United States government
for years. McVeigh began formulating a plan after he attended the catastrophic incident
in Waco between the group known as the Branch Davidians and law enforcement
officers. Over 80 members of the religious group, including men, women, and children,
along with four law enforcement officers, died in the Waco incident. McVeigh viewed
the Waco siege as an attack on personal freedom, and felt that the government handled
the situation inappropriately. That event lead the young 30-year-old Timothy James
McVeigh to the conviction that he wanted to make the American government pay for their
actions in Waco.
McVeigh envisioned a plan where in he would strike out against the government
whom he believed was responsible for the deaths in Waco. McVeigh shared this plan
with an acquaintance, Michael Fortier and Fortiers wife. In 1994, McVeigh
demonstrated a prototype of an explosive mechanism to the Fortiers. McVeigh used a
formation of soup cans displayed in an arrangement that resembled a truck, and placed
explosives in the location that would have greatest impact, the section that represented
the freight box of a large moving truck. This model provided the blueprint for the actual
contraption that McVeigh would create only two short years later.
In the days leading up to April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh, along with another
accomplice named Terry Nichols, prepared a high impact bomb using ammonium nitrate.
Ammonium nitrate is a component found in common fertilizer. When mixed with the
correct chemicals, ammonium nitrate is highly explosive and has the potential to cause
mass destruction. McVeigh and Nichols proceeded with their plans by acquiring over
4,800 pounds of fertilizer along with the other necessary compounds. They rented a

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Ryder moving truck, mixed the ingredients, and committed to their act of destruction.
The men were serious about creating an explosion, and even had a contingency plan for
detonating the bomb if the initial ignition was unsuccessful.
At 8:50 a.m., Timothy McVeigh crossed into Oklahoma City. While waiting at a
stoplight in Downtown Oklahoma City, McVeigh lit the fuse. McVeigh drove the large
Ryder rental truck to the front of the Murrah Building, parked the truck, and walked away
from the mayhem that he hoped would occur only a few short minutes later.
9:01 a.m., the civilians inside the building and in the surrounding area, including
Mr. Goodman, are all unsuspecting of what will occur in only 60 seconds. 59 seconds
remaining, 58 seconds remaining, 57 seconds remaining. The wind blows a little. In
retrospect time seems to move in slow motion. Mr. Goodman is standing in the corner of
his office talking with one of his associates assuming that the day will proceed as
planned. Five, four, three, two, one. 9:02 a.m. Suddenly, the world begins to shake and
an unimaginably loud sound follows the quaking of the city structures. The world seems
to fall apart for the hundreds of adults and young children inside the Murrah Building and
its surrounding areas.
Mr. Goodman hears a massive sound (Goodman 2015) that rattles the windows
and seems to shake the foundation of the building. Neither he nor anyone else, except
McVeigh, can imagine the cause of that terrible explosion. Mr. Goodman looks out of the
window and sees thick billows of smoke covering the street, and he can barely see any
shapes through the smoke. He and his associates speculate that perhaps a natural gas leak
caused the explosion. Mr. Goodman then proceeds to exit the building. Looking around,
he sees a thick sheet of broken glass covering the street. Not a single other person is

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outside. He returns to his office and sees all the phone lines are busy with incoming
calls; Mr. Goodman cannot make contact with his wife for more than an hour to let her
know he is okay. Because the explosion occurred on the north side of the Murrah
building, Mr. Goodmans building sustains very little damage compared to other
buildings in downtown Oklahoma City.
Within seconds people begin pouring out of what remains of the Murrah Building.
The two- thirds of the building that is still standing is smoldering and dust and debris
linger in the air. Hundreds of people are trapped or are dead amidst the rubble of the
destroyed building. The rescue efforts began at 9:03 a.m.; the first of 1,000 calls was
made to 911. Within only 20 minutes people representing multiple law enforcement and
emergency response agencies come to the aid of those who had been in the building. The
crews work quickly to rescue victims while watching for signs that the unstable structure
will collapse further. There is no time to process the unbelievable fact that the Murrah
Building is destroyed; the emergency workers focus on finding and rescuing people. St.
Anthonys hospital sets up a triage operating station on the street below Mr. Goodmans
window. The medical team is prepared to treat the wounded. Mr. Goodman periodically
looks outside and notices the triage team is on standby, but they are not treating anyone.
No wounded people are brought to the area. The victims are beyond medical help. By
the end of the first day fourteen adults and six children were accounted for as dead.
Only 90 minutes after the explosion, McVeigh is taken into custody. McVeigh is
pulled over for not having a license plate on his getaway car, and the officer who stops
him discovers he has a concealed weapon. McVeigh is taken to jail, but law enforcement
officers do not realize he is connected to the bombing. Meanwhile at the crime scene, a

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vehicle identification number, or VIN, is discovered on the axle of the exploded Ryder
truck. The number is traced to a Kansas Ryder Rental Center and even though McVeigh
used an alias to rent the truck, the connection is made and he becomes one of two primary
suspects.
The rescue efforts relentlessly continue. Emergency responders come from other
states to join in the effort. Rescue eventually turns into recovery. In the days proceeding,
Mr. Goodman said that streets were filled with a horrible sickly smell. The recovery
teams were claiming that it was from a rendering plant several blocks over, but we all
knew what it was (Goodman 2015). All of the civilians knew it was the smell of human
decay, and was a sensory reminder of the senseless attack on unsuspecting and innocent
victims.
Rescue and recovery efforts cease on May 5. After several weeks of devastating
and heart breaking work, the final count of casualties was 168. Of these deaths, 163 were
sustained from inside the building and five from other buildings on the street near the
Murrah Building. Three of the victims were pregnant women, nineteen were children
who attended the Americas Kids Day Care Center, and ninety-nine were Federal
employees. Along with these casualties, over 600 hundred other people were injured.
Finally on May 23, 1995, the Alfred P. Murrah Building is demolished. The razing of the
building underscores how a destructive act can irrevocably alter lives and landscape.
Many Oklahomans lost a significant part of their livelihood that day.
In the years following, Attorney John Goodman provided legal assistance
free of charge to anyone involved in the bombing. Mr. Goodman helped people file legal
documents, requests, and lawsuits. I was very proud of the city and the efforts that the

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community contributed he claimed. No one was angry he said (Goodman 2015),
commenting on the constructive and cooperative way in which Oklahomans dealt with
the traumatic tragedy.
McVeighs trial began on April 24, 1997. After over a month of deliberation and
heartache, on June 2, 1997, Timothy James McVeigh was found guilty. He was charged
with eleven counts of murder as well as conspiracy. McVeigh was put to death by lethal
injection in Indiana on June 11, 2001.
Mr. Goodman continues to practice in the same building. He has chosen to block
most of his memories of the bombing, and Mr. Goodman claims that he doesnt like to
think or talk about it (Goodman 2015). Rather, Mr. Goodman chooses to focus on the
positive aspects of life, and considers the bombing to be an irrational act by an irrational
person. I am extremely grateful to Mr. Goodman for opening up and discussing the
horrific experience that he lived and worked through, and contributed to positively.
Many Oklahomans appreciated, and I believe shared, the sentiments expressed by
Bill Clinton, the President of the United States, following the bombing. The bombing in
Oklahoma City was an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act
of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it, and I will not allow
the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards (Bill Clinton 1995).

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Works Cited
Goodman,John."Mr.Goodman:OklahomaCityBombing."Personalinterview.25Feb.
2015.
Staff."OklahomaCityBombing."History.com.A&ETelevisionNetworks,2009.Web.
20Feb.2015.<http://www.history.com/topics/oklahomacitybombing>.