Nearly 30 years ago, Ret. FBI Special Agent Barry Black responded to the worst homegrown terrorist attack in U.S. history with just a year of experience as a bomb technician. Black was one of two FBI bomb techs in the entire state of Oklahoma when he arrived at the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, following ex-Army soldier Timothy McVeigh’s bombing that killed 168 victims. Black described the scene as horrific and chaotic, with destruction unlike anything he had ever seen before. The explosion registered a 6.0 on the Richter scale and left cars upturned and damaged more than 320 nearby buildings.
Among the 168 victims, 19 were children, as the Murrah building housed a daycare on the second floor. Black’s wife, who also worked in the building, had left two minutes before the explosion. Black recounted how it took an hour and a half before he knew she was safe, adding that the devastation was overwhelming when he arrived at the scene. Investigators were able to track down the fake name McVeigh used to rent the vehicle from the evidence found in the rubble, eventually leading to his arrest 90 minutes after the bombing. McVeigh was found to have a concealed weapon on him at the time and was detained.
Following 28,000 interviews conducted across the world, investigators were able to piece together McVeigh and Terry Nichols’ motives for the act. They were angry about the April 19, 1993, Waco siege and the August 1992 siege at Ruby Ridge. Black mentioned that lessons from the FBI’s investigation into the Oklahoma City bombing are still relevant today and are part of what he teaches as a professor at the University of Central Oklahoma Forensic Science Institute. He emphasized the importance of quickly relaying information from the scene to the command post to facilitate a broader investigation.
McVeigh was executed in 2001 at the age of 33. Black reflected on the impact of the attack, noting that it was in his backyard and that the victims were people he knew. He recalled the overwhelming devastation he witnessed and the relief he felt upon learning his wife was safe. Black also mentioned the emotional toll the attack took on him, as he had experienced similar catastrophic events but none quite like the Oklahoma City bombing. Despite the tragedy, Black highlighted the importance of law enforcement agencies working together effectively, which ultimately led to McVeigh and Nichols being in custody just 54 hours after the detonation.
