McVeigh later decided to bomb a federal building as a response to the raids.

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.

" 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.

McVeigh, he said, had developed a hatred of the government during his time in the army, after reading The Turner Diaries.

They included a confession said to have been inadvertently included on a computer disk that was given to the press, which McVeigh believed seriously compromised his chances of getting a fair trial.

McVeigh had indeed contemplated the assassinations of Attorney General Janet Reno, Lon Horiuchi, and others in preference to attacking a building, and after the bombing he said that he sometimes wished he had carried out a series of assassinations instead.

According to Michel and Herbeck, McVeigh claimed not to have known there was a daycare center in the Murrah Building and said that if he had known it, in his own words:

Before the sentence was formally pronounced by Judge Matsch, McVeigh addressed the court for the first time and said simply:

McVeigh said:

In a 1996 interview, McVeigh professed belief in " a God ", although he said he had " sort of lost touch with " Catholicism and " I never really picked it up, however I do maintain core beliefs.

In interviews following the Oklahoma City bombing, McVeigh said he began harboring anti-government feelings during the Gulf War.

Lodging in Vian Includes the El Siesta Motel, the place where Timothy McVeigh was said to have stayed the night before he bombed The Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City.

McVeigh said that he bombed the Murrah building on the two-year anniversary of the Waco Siege in 1993 to retaliate for US government actions there and at the siege at Ruby Ridge.

Before his execution, McVeigh said that he did not know a day care center was in the building and that, had he known, " It might have given me pause to switch targets.

" The FBI said that McVeigh scouted the interior of the building in December 1994 and likely knew of the day-care center before the bombing.

He said he helped McVeigh survey the building before the attack.

She said her husband had been living a double life prior to the bombing, using aliases, renting storage lockers and lying that he had broken off his relationship with McVeigh.

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 defense attempted to cast doubt on the case against Nichols by calling witnesses who said they saw other men with McVeigh before the bombing and by claiming the government had manipulated the evidence against Nichols.

Nichols's lawyers said he was the " fall guy " and that others had conspired with McVeigh.

In their concluding argument, the defense said, " People who are still unknown assisted Timothy McVeigh.

In a 2006 letter requesting that a judge give his son a light sentence for assault with a deadly weapon, battery of a police officer, and possession of a stolen vehicle, Nichols admitted his participation in the Oklahoma City bombing but said that McVeigh had forced and intimidated him into cooperating.

Nichols also said that in 1995 McVeigh told him that FBI official Larry Potts, who had supervised the Ruby Ridge and Waco operations, had directed McVeigh to blow up a government building.

Timothy McVeigh, who was convicted of killing 168 people in the Oklahoma City bombing of 1995, said that the Ruby Ridge incident was a contributing factor in his anger at the federal government.

McVeigh, a resident of Kingman, Arizona, considered targets in Missouri, Arizona, Texas, and Arkansas.

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

McVeigh had a road atlas with hand-drawn designations of the most likely places for nuclear attacks and considered buying property in Seligman, Arizona, which he determined to be in a " nuclear-free zone.

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.

Steve Moysey, a U. S .- based British academic, who researched and published a highly detailed history of the IRA campaign in London, and the resulting Balcombe Street siege, was puzzled by apparent inconsistencies and contacted John Purnell, who with his partner Phil McVeigh, were the first policemen to confront the Balcombe Street gang.

An episode of American TV series The West Wing's first season, Take This Sabbath Day, deals with the imminent execution of drug lord and murderer Simon Cruz, likewise sentenced under the " Drug Kingpin " Act and to be executed by injection at Terre Haute ( for killing two individuals in Michigan ), who is described as the first individual to be executed by federal authorities since 1963 ( probably alluding to the case of Victor Feguer, who would have been the last before Garza, had not Timothy McVeigh been executed eight days earlier ).

McVeigh wore a printed T-shirt with the motto of the Commonwealth of Virginia, Sic semper tyrannis (" Thus always to tyrants ", which was shouted by John Wilkes Booth immediately after the assassination of Abraham Lincoln ) and " The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants " ( from Thomas Jefferson ).

In his senior year, McVeigh was named Starpoint Central High School's " most promising computer programmer ," but maintained relatively poor grades up until his 1986 graduation.