On April 19, 1995, at 9:02 AM, Timothy McVeigh committed one of the most heinous crimes in American history, the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. 168 men, women and children were killed, and over 500 more wounded. <P><br /><br />Timothy McVeigh was born in Pendelton, NY on April 23, 1968. Neighbors and friends remember McVeigh as a happy, likeable child. He developed a fascination with guns at a very early age, and was encouraged by his grandfather, Eddie, an avid outdoorsman. Timothy received his first rifle as a present for his thirteenth birthday, and would tell people who asked him what he wanted to be when he grew up that he planned to own a gun shop. His mother left the family the year McVeigh graduated from high school, and McVeigh appears to have been deeply resentful of her. McVeigh did well in school, and graduated with honors, but decided not to go to college. <P><br /><br />Instead, he stayed home to devote his time to researching guns and the Second Amendment. He discovered the extremist militia movement, and the racist, anti-government propaganda he read resonated with him. The book that seems to have influenced him most was The Turner Diaries, an anti-government white supremacist fantasy in which the hero detonates a truck bomb outside FBI headquarters. He was also deeply impressed by Red Dawn, a movie in which Cuba invades the United States and the federal government immediately collapses. A small band of high school students led by Patrick Swayze, a survivalist who has been storing weapons and food in case of just such an emergency, organizes a guerilla resistance to the invasion and saves the day. <P><br /><br />In May of 1988, McVeigh joined the Army. He thrived on the discipline and survivalist training he found there, and was described as an excellent soldier by his superiors. He met Terry Lynn Nichols and Michael Fortier, who would both play a role in the Oklahoma City Bombing, while all three were enlisted. McVeigh served in the Gulf War, and was awarded a Combat Infantry Badge and a Bronze Star. When he applied to become a Green Beret, however, he was rejected, reportedly because he didn't take time to recover his stamina after returning from the war. Disillusioned and disappointed, McVeigh left the Army. <P><br /><br />Returning to civilian life deepened his resentment of the government. Instead of being treated as a conquering hero, McVeigh found himself back in a low-paying job as a security guard at Burke Armored Cars. McVeigh's colleagues remember him constantly ranting about his hatred of the government, and boasting that he could easily steal guns from the Army. He spouted the same angry diatribe at women, which may explain why he never had a girlfriend. "He would talk about the Government a lot," says Catina Lawson, who met him at a party. "He also talked a lot about Hitler...From what I remember, he said he didn't necessarily agree with all those Jews being killed. But he said Hitler had the right plan... I didn't like him after that." (Kifner, 6) <P><br /><br />McVeigh began attending gun shows, where he made money and found likeminded people with whom to network. He became more and more deeply involved in the right-wing extremist movement, even attending the standoff at Waco to sell bumper stickers that read "A Man With a Gun Is A Citizen, A Man Without A Gun Is A Subject." He told a reporter who interviewed him there, "The government is continually growing bigger and more powerful, and the people need to prepare to defend themselves against government control."