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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
World
Andrew Gumbel

‘The bomber’s words sound mainstream. Like he won!’ Oklahoma City’s tragedy in the time of Trump

The aftermath of the massive truck bomb at the Alfred P. Murrah federal building that killed 168 people, 19 of them children under five. The blast was set off by anti-government militant Timothy McVeigh, who in 2001 was executed for his crimes.
The aftermath of the massive truck bomb at the Alfred P Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City that killed 168 people, 19 of them children under five. Photograph: Charles Porter IV/Zuma Press/PA Images

The world’s first reaction to the young military veteran and far-right radical who blew up a federal building in Oklahoma City 30 years ago this month was near-universal revulsion at the carnage he created and at the ideology that inspired it.

A crowd yelled “baby killer” – and worse – as 26-year-old Timothy McVeigh was led away in chains from a courthouse in rural Oklahoma where the FBI caught up with him two days after the bombing. He had the same crew cut he’d sported in his army days and stone cold eyes.

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