McVeigh initially intended only to destroy a federal building, but he later decided that his message would be better received if many people were killed in the bombing.

Specifically, McVeigh arranged the barrels in the shape of a backwards J ; he later said that for pure destructive power, he would have put the barrels on the side of the cargo bay closest to the Murrah Building ; however, such an unevenly distributed load might have broken an axle, flipped the truck over, or at least caused it to lean to one side, which could have drawn attention.

McVeigh later justified his killing of children in the bombing: " I didn't define the rules of engagement in this conflict.

McVeigh later stated that he was unaware of the day-care center when choosing the building as a target, and if he had known "... it might have given me pause to switch targets.

In addition to Michael assisting McVeigh in scouting the federal building, Lori had helped McVeigh laminate a fake driver's license which was later used to rent the Ryder truck.

McVeigh is said to have had one girlfriend during his childhood, later stating to journalists he did not know how to impress girls.

McVeigh later would say that the Army taught him how to switch off his emotions.

McVeigh later said he considered " a campaign of individual assassination ," with " eligible " targets including Attorney-General Janet Reno, Judge Walter S. Smith Jr. of Federal District Court, who handled the Branch Davidian trial, and Lon Horiuchi, a member of the FBI hostage-rescue team who shot and killed Vicki Weaver in a standoff at a remote cabin at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, in 1992.

" Three days later, while still in jail, McVeigh was identified as the subject of the nationwide manhunt.

In the same affidavit, Nichols admitted that he and McVeigh stole eight cases of the gel type explosive Tovex from a Marion, Kansas quarry, some of which was later used in the Oklahoma City truck bomb.

* Timothy McVeigh was erroneously associated with the Militia by the media following his arrest, but the Michigan Militia was later cleared of any involvement with McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing by the FBI.

Mark also had a niece, Luella ( the daughter of Sydney's Jarrad McVeigh ), born on 25 July 2011 but she died from heart complications barely a month later.

Shortly thereafter, McVeigh decided to leave the Army.

McVeigh had earlier written that he considered having his ashes dropped at the site of the memorial where the Murrah building once stood, but decided that would be " too vengeful, too raw, cold.

McVeigh and Nichols purchased or stole the materials they needed to manufacture the bomb, which they stored in rented sheds.

McVeigh did not need to raise money for the bomb, which only cost about $ 5, 000.

In October 1994, McVeigh showed Michael Fortier and his wife, Lori, a diagram he had drawn of the bomb he wanted to build.

McVeigh planned to construct a bomb containing more than of ammonium nitrate fertilizer, mixed with about of liquid nitromethane and of Tovex.

McVeigh made a prototype bomb using a plastic Gatorade jug containing ammonium nitrate prills, liquid nitromethane, a piece of Tovex sausage, and a blasting cap.

After finishing the truck bomb, the two men separated ; Nichols returned home to Herington and McVeigh with the truck to Junction City.

As he drove toward the Murrah Federal Building in the Ryder truck, McVeigh carried with him an envelope containing pages from The Turner Diaries — a fictional account of white supremacists who ignite a revolution by blowing up the FBI headquarters at 9: 15 one morning using a truck bomb.

Both Fortiers testified that McVeigh had told them of his plans to bomb the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

McVeigh believed that the bomb attack had a positive impact on government policy.

Timothy James " Tim " McVeigh ( April 23, 1968 – June 11, 2001 ) was an American domestic terrorist who detonated a truck bomb in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

Timothy McVeigh and one of his accomplices, Terry Nichols, set off the bomb.

Residents of Oklahoma City suffered substantial losses on April 19, 1995 when Timothy McVeigh set off a bomb in front of the Murrah building.

On September 22, 1994, Terry Nichols and McVeigh rented a storage shed and began gathering supplies for the truck bomb.

On April 18, the day before the bombing, Nichols helped McVeigh prepare the truck bomb at a lake near Herington.

The search turned up blasting caps, detonating cords, ground ammonium nitrate, barrels made of plastic similar to fragments found at the bombing site, 33 firearms, anti-government warfare literature, a receipt for ammonium nitrate fertilizer with McVeigh's fingerprints on it, a telephone credit card that McVeigh had used when he was shopping for bomb making equipment, and a hand-drawn map of downtown Oklahoma City.

Marife also failed to give Nichols an alibi for April 18, 1995, the day the prosecution said Nichols helped McVeigh assemble the truck bomb.

The prosecution argued that Nichols helped McVeigh purchase and steal bomb ingredients, park the getaway car near the Murrah building and assemble the bomb.

The jury deliberated for 41 hours over a period of six days, acquitting Nichols on December 24, 1997, of actually detonating the bomb, but convicting him of conspiring with McVeigh to use a weapon of mass destruction, a capital offense.

Nichols claimed that he and McVeigh had learned how to make the bomb from individuals they met while attending gun shows.

He admitted that he had helped McVeigh mix the bomb ingredients in the truck the day before the attack, but he denied that he knew the exact target of the bomb.

In an interview on PBS, Lee Kuan Yew pointed out that each bomb would be twice the size of the one detonated by Timothy McVeigh at the Alfred P. Murrah building in Oklahoma City.

Motivated by his hatred of the federal government and angered by what he perceived as its mishandling of the Waco Siege ( 1993 ) and the Ruby Ridge incident ( 1992 ), McVeigh timed his attack to coincide with the second anniversary of the deadly fire that ended the siege at Waco.

McVeigh and Nichols cited the federal government's actions against the Branch Davidian compound in the 1993 Waco Siege ( shown above ) as a reason they perpetrated the Oklahoma City bombing.

On June 6, federal judge Richard Paul Matsch ruled the documents would not prove McVeigh innocent and ordered the execution to proceed.

After President George W. Bush approved the execution ( McVeigh was a federal inmate and federal law dictates that the President must approve the execution of federal prisoners ), he was executed by lethal injection at the Federal Correctional Complex, Terre Haute in Terre Haute, Indiana, on June 11.

McVeigh, a militia movement sympathizer, 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 prior to the bombing, as well as for the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992.

McVeigh hoped to inspire a revolt against what he considered to be a tyrannical federal government.

McVeigh told Fortier of his plans to blow up a federal building, but Fortier declined to participate.

McVeigh noted that he had no knowledge that the federal offices also ran a daycare center on the second floor of the building, and noted that he might have chosen a different target if he had known about the daycare center.

On August 10, 1995, McVeigh was indicted on 11 federal counts, including conspiracy to use a weapon of mass destruction, use of a weapon of mass destruction, destruction by explosives and eight counts of first-degree murder.

On June 2, 1997, McVeigh was found guilty on all 11 counts of the federal indictment.

The U. S. Department of Justice brought federal charges against McVeigh for causing the deaths of eight federal officers leading to a possible death penalty for McVeigh ; it could not bring charges against McVeigh for the remaining 160 murders in federal court because those deaths fell under the jurisdiction of the state of Oklahoma.