All language subtitles for How.It.Really.Happened.S04E09_English

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♪♪

♪♪

Welcome to "How It
Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

On April 19, 1995,

a truck bomb exploded
in downtown Oklahoma City,

damaging most of the buildings
within 48 square blocks.

168 people were killed,
more than 500 injured.

It was the deadliest attack
by a domestic terrorist

in U.S. history.

When it was learned that the man
behind the mass slaughter

was a 26-year-old American,
born and bred,

there was anger and confusion.

Why? How?

Finally, years later,
Timothy McVeigh gave his answers

to the many questions
everyone was asking --

answers that would shock

and enrage the nation
all over again.

Here's how it really happened.

♪♪

♪♪

Michel:
There's this secluded lake.

It's called Geary Lake.

It's in Kansas.

And this big Ryder truck
comes rolling in,

and this fellow gets out.

And he's looking around
to see if anybody's there.

He goes to the back
of the truck, opens it up,

and there's all of this material
to make a bomb.

His co-conspirator
arrives a little later,

and they begin
making the bomb.

And they picked this place

because it's out away
from things.

Herbeck: It took them
several hours of very hard work

to mix this bomb,
put it in big, plastic barrels

that were arranged inside
the truck for maximum impact.

Michel: That's the bomb
that Timothy McVeigh

was going to take
a day later to Oklahoma City.

♪♪

Throughout all of this,
McVeigh's intensity

is completely off the charts.

Nobody is going to get
in the way of this bomb

that he's building
and delivering.

He's got contingencies
where he'll kill anybody

that gets in his way
because this bomb --

and I hate to use the word --
but it was his masterpiece.

♪♪

Then, they notice something

not far from where they were
building this terrorist bomb.

McVeigh lowers the back
door of the truck,

and they're looking out.

He notices a vehicle pull in,
and a man and a boy get out.

And he figured it's a father
and a son.

And they go out in a boat
onto the lake fishing.

He's thinking, "What happens
if this guy comes back

and looks inside the truck?"

This wasn't part of the script,
but he always has a plan "B."

McVeigh has a Glock on him.

He always has a shoulder holster
with his Glock.

McVeigh has reached an opinion
that if they come over,

he's gonna shoot the father.

But he didn't want
to kill the boy.

McVeigh's periodically checking
to see if they're coming in,

but they have to get back
to the task at hand,

and that's build
the 7,000-pound bomb.

♪♪

Finally, the father gets out
of the boat with his son,

and they drive off.

To his great fortune, he never
goes very close to the truck.

♪♪

When the bomb
was finally finished,

Timothy McVeigh headed South,
on his way to Oklahoma City,

got within a two-hour range of
it, and parked behind a motel,

and he spent the night there.

♪♪

Herbeck: McVeigh woke up totally
focused on what he was doing.

He was a soldier getting
ready for his mission.

He'd slept like a baby
in the rental truck,

two feet in front of
a 7,000-pound bomb.

He very carefully
drove into Oklahoma City.

♪♪

April 19, '95, started out
just like any other morning.

It was a beautiful
spring morning.

I was working at
Federal Employees Credit Union,

which was located in
the Murrah Building downtown.

I worked on the third floor,
and at the time,

I was working
as a Visa credit-card clerk.

The Murrah Building was
a large federal building

in downtown Oklahoma City.

Had a lot of different
federal offices,

everything from Social Security

to Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms

and a variety of things.

There was even
a daycare center there.

I spent the first hour actually
chatting with all my friends

and not working.

I could have never imagined
that something was gonna happen

that would change my life
so drastically.

Oak: On the morning
of April 19, 1995,

I was wearing
a brand-new maternity dress.

I was six months pregnant.

I got to work that morning,

and I went up to my cubicle
on the third floor.

The building was right
across the street

from the Murrah Building.

But I could never imagine
what happened

in the next few minutes
could change my life forever.

♪♪

Potok:
McVeigh has set up his truck
with a double-fusing system.

One of those fuses
is a five-minute fuse.

One is a 2-minute fuse.

When he is 4 minutes
or something like that away

from the building,
he leans down,

and he lights
the five-minute fuse.

He's now getting very close
to the building.

And he runs up on a red light.

And the red light
doesn't change.

And it doesn't change.

♪♪

And he was really freaking out.

"Please let
this light turn green."

And the cabin starts filling up
with smoke from the fuse.

Michel:
And he starts walking away,

heading toward an alleyway
further up,

and he's not looking back
at the bomb.

He was walking for about
a minute, thinking to himself,

"Is that bomb gonna
go off or not?"

♪♪

Oak: That morning,
I was sitting at my desk,

facing away from the window,
and just busy, doing things.

A sign-up sheet was going around
for snack day,

and I was trying to
figure out what to bring.

As it got close to 9:00,
I thought,

"okay, I really better
get to work,"

and I ran to my desk
and sat down

and started to begin my day.

♪♪

Herbeck: McVeigh was walking
for about a minute

and thinking to himself,

"Is that bomb gonna
go off or not?"

Every second feels like an hour,
and he's thinking,

"Am I gonna have to go back
and shoot that bomb?"

He put a bunch of explosives

in one of the corners
of the Ryder truck

that he knew would ignite it
if the fuses failed.

Potok:
He walks across the street.

As soon as he is in alley across
the street, he starts to run.

♪♪

Downs: One of my coworkers,
she's seven-months pregnant.

She's sitting down beside me.

I took a phone call,
was logging on my computer,

and getting ready to ask her,
"What do you need?"

When I turned to speak to her...

[ Explosion ]

...all of a sudden,
I heard this deafening,

roaring noise in my head.

♪♪

I felt some kind of sensation
going over my body, like a wave.

I was kind of blown forward,
and I hit my desk.

It was so loud,
I thought I'd been shot

in the back of the head.

And I felt this powerful
rushing sensation,

like I was falling,

and I could hear people
screaming all around me.

And I was falling.

I was actually falling
three floors.

♪♪

And this woman was screaming
right in my ear,

"Jesus, help me!
Jesus, help me!"

And then I realized that was me.

I didn't even recognize
the sound of my own voice.

And then, all of that stopped,
and it was quiet.

♪♪

I looked up.
I saw all the windows were gone.

They were shattered.

I was bleeding
down the front of my face,

and I didn't see
a single soul.

Downs: I lay there, wondering,
"Am I dead or alive?

What just happened?"

My original thought was,
"It's the end of the world,

and this is it."

♪♪

McVeigh has a matter of seconds
to get to his car,

a yellow 1977
Mercury Marquis.

[ Engine sputtering ]

And he turns it on,
and it's grunting and groaning.

Finally, it burst to life.

And McVeigh drives off closer
to the speed limit

than he'd ever driven
in his life

and heads out of Oklahoma City.

Oak:
I think I was in shock.

I mean, I had lost
a lot of blood.

I was disoriented.

I just wanted to escape.

Instinct kind of took over,
and I just got up and tried

to make my way
out of the building

by crawling over all kinds
of things that were in the way

and then trying to make
my way down the stairs.

I had not felt my baby kick
since the time of the explosion.

I was thinking
that she may not be okay.

We went out the front door,
and it looked like a war zone.

There were people --

♪♪

[ Inhales deeply ]

[ Voice breaking ] There were
people just running everywhere.

♪♪

And people
screaming and bleeding.

♪♪

Man: There's glass, debris
all over downtown Oklahoma City.

Boy, it's just like
an atomic bomb went off.

The ceiling went in.

All the windows came in.

It was a deafening roar.

I was covered with glass.
I didn't know what was going on.

Woman: I can't believe
this is happening.

All I know is I can't
see anything.

It is very hard to breathe.

I can barely get air.

I can't really move.

I was actually still
in my chair,

and I was upside down
under about 10 feet of rubble.

But I had no idea
about any of that.

I just knew I was buried.

I heard a siren going off
in the distance.

I decided I was still alive.

And I started screaming
for help.

Fields: And all the sudden there
was a call over the radio

for everybody
to evacuate the building.

Man: Back! Go! Go!

Get them back!
Get them back!

We just found another bomb.

Man 1: We just heard
some loud explosion.

We have a large column of smoke
south of this.

Man 2: We just had some kind
of explosion downtown.

Flowers:
It was about 9:00 that morning,

and this incredible blast,
this explosion, went off,

and it shook
the whole building.

We had absolutely no idea
what had happened.

My first thought was that
maybe an airline had crashed.

[ People shouting indistinctly ]

Fields: Fire station I was
assigned to was

about 15 blocks north
of the Murrah Building.

It was about 9:00 a.m.

We felt the station rattle.
We heard the explosion.

We looked back to the south,
towards the downtown area,

and that's when we saw
the large plume of black smoke,

and we immediately
got on the rigs

and self-dispatched
ourselves.

Didn't wait for the orders.

Man: We've had an explosion.
We need help.

This is
the fire department.

I need some ambulances here.

I got some critically
hurt people.

Woman:
We're at 92 headquarters.

We need ladders in the Southeast
corner of the federal building.

Evacuate people
from the building.

Man: We're still having
some explosions in this fire.

♪♪

People were bleeding
and holding rags and shirts

and things
against their faces.

♪♪

Man 1: Wow. Holy cow.

About a third --
About a third of the building

has been blown away.

Man 2:
Look at the side of that --
just completely demolished.

It looked like someone had taken
and just cut out a horseshoe

out of the side
of that building.

Man 1: And you can see
just smoke and debris and fire

on the ground.

This is just devastating.

Man 3: There are no words
to describe this scene.

And I remember this crater
that was there

on that side of the building.

It looked like about size
of a swimming pool.

That's when I realized
this had to have been a bomb.

And I immediately ran
into that building.

I could hear people crying
and screaming

and "Get me out of here!
Get me out of here!"

But you can't see them
'cause it's so dark.

I could hear a very faint crying
of a female voice,

and I remember everybody
screaming to each other

"Be quiet!
Be quiet! Be quiet!"

because we were trying
to pinpoint

where that voice
was coming from

to try to dig
through this rubble

until it finally faded
totally away, and it was gone.

And we all knew that this person
probably had just died

as we listened to her
trying to cry for help.

We set up triage right there and
just started treating people.

Clark:
You saw the rescuers all around,
trying to get into the building.

There were
hook-and-ladder trucks,

long ladder trucks trying to get
up to the upper floors

because people were
still trapped in there.

One of the guys that was
on our rescue ladder

extended it up
rescuing a gentleman

from one of the upper floors
of the building.

That kind of stuff
went on all day.

Concrete slabs were broken.

They were as big as a bed
of a pickup.

You didn't just walk
into a room.

You crawled up,
you crawled over,

you crawled around,
and you crawled through.

And that's what we did.

A firefighter had handed me
a light.

I flipped that light on,
and all the floors had pancaked

right on top of each other.

So, you could see these circles
of about 3 or 4 feet

in diameter, circles everywhere
of coagulated blood.

When we looked at these floors
and this blood

was coming down
through the cracks,

it actually looked like the
floors were actually bleeding.

But we knew what it was.

That's when it really hit home
what we were up against.

Downs: I couldn't see.
I couldn't move.

It was hot.

And there was a horrible smell.

Finally, I hear men's voices.

And they're saying,
"Let's split up.

Let's look for
the daycare children."

And I was really confused
because

I worked
on the third floor,

and the daycare
was on the second floor.

I didn't realize we were all
at the bottom of the building.

But I started screaming
like crazy at this point,

and one of the men said,

"I hear you.
We can't see you.

We have to follow
the sound of your voice.

Keep talking to us."

And, so, we keep yelling back
and forth at each other

until the voices get closer
and closer and closer.

My right hand was actually

sticking out of the side
of the rubble pile.

And, so, one of the men
brushed against my head,

and I said, "that's me.
That's me.

I'm right here."

At this point, I thought
they were gonna grab my hand,

one, two, three,
pull me up and out.

But that's not what happened.

Fields: And all of a sudden,
there was a call over the radio

for everybody
to evacuate the building.

I heard other voices,
and they were screaming,

"There's another bomb!
There's another bomb!

Everybody get out now!"

Man: Get back!
Go! Go!

Get them back!
Get them back!

Downs: And my rescuer starting
talking over the voices, saying,

"Amy, we're gonna be
right back."

I began saying over
and over again my name.

"Tell my husband I love him,"
because this was it.

I was saying goodbye.

And they left,
and I was alone.

♪♪

Hanger: As I turned on
my emergency lights,

I could tell the driver
of this yellow

Mercury saw me.

And he's thinking, "I could kill
this guy if I want."

Welcome back.

A few minutes after
first responders

arrived at the Murrah Building
in downtown Oklahoma City,

reports of a second bomb
sent everyone running for cover,

forcing those still trapped
inside to face

their impending deaths
on their own.

♪♪

Man 1:
Go back -- another bomb.

Go back!
Get back!

Man 2: Go! Go! Get them back!
Get them back!

Downs: I'm here,
buried under feet of rubble.

My reality was, "another bomb
is getting ready to go off."

They got a hot spot.
Get them back!

♪♪

[ Crying ]

Downs: And I can't leave.

I was terrified because
I realized my life was over.

My life was over,
and I never even lived it.

And I was filled with regret.

I remember one
of the thoughts I had was

that I was dying,
and I'd never been a mother.

And all of the sudden,
in a split second,

I had this horrible regret
that I've never had a child.

I started praying
and begging God to let me live.

And I thought about
all the changes

I would make, you know, if I
could just have a second chance.

Ronan: Approximately 60 miles
north of Oklahoma City,

a state trooper named
Charlie Hanger stumbles

on the most-wanted man
in America.

On April 19, 1995,
I'm within about a mile of

where I'm going to exit
off the interstate,

and I see this old,
yellow Mercury.

I noticed on the rear bumper,
there was no license plate.

As I turned on
my emergency lights,

I could tell the driver

of this old,
yellow Mercury saw me.

He was slowing down
and pulling over.

I opened my door, and I yelled
for the driver to get out.

The door opens up, but he
doesn't immediately get out.

The driver, he sits there
thinking for a minute or two.

And he's thinking, "I could
kill this guy if I want"

because he has his Glock
in his shoulder holster.

At that very moment, he makes
the decision, no,

he's not gonna
kill the officer.

He's gonna wait and see
what happens.

And a few seconds later,
he stands up,

begins walking toward me.

♪♪

I begin questioning him.

I said, "Do you have
a driver's license?"

At that time, he goes to his
right-rear pocket

to retrieve his billfold.

He's just starting to
pull his jacket back,

and I noticed a bulge
under his left arm

that I thought was a weapon.

It was not legal
in the state of Oklahoma

to carry a loaded firearm
in a motor vehicle at that time.

And he looks me in the eye,
and he says, "I have a weapon."

But I'm telling him
at the same time,

"Get your hands
and turn around."

He says, "My weapon is loaded."

At that time, I nudge him
in the back of the head

with the barrel of my pistol,
and I said, "Well, so is mine."

And then I handcuffed him
and put him in my patrol unit,

and we started our trip
to the Noble County Jail.

♪♪

We get to the Noble County Jail.

That's a small jail,
only one jailer on duty.

There is a television
hanging on the wall.

It's not supposed
to happen here, but it did.

And at times,
I would see my prisoner

looking up at the television
and looking back down

but never making any comments.

It's an amazing scene --
this little county jail.

They have no idea
who they have in custody.

So, McVeigh sits there,
you know,

this anonymous, unknown guy,

in a little jail in Oklahoma,
waiting to go before a judge.

And all indications were
that this young man,

the next day, would see a judge
and then be released.

Most people do bond out of jail
on misdemeanor

or traffic offenses
by the next day.

♪♪

After probably about 45 minutes
of having this life

flashing before my eyes,
come-to-Jesus meeting,

I hear voices,
and they've come back.

There was not a second bomb.

Everybody started screaming
at us, "Go back in."

They give us the all clear.

Downs: They came back, and they
began working to get me out.

But I was stuck.

Back in 1995,
I weighed over 355 pounds.

So, I'm sure it wasn't for them
to get me out.

And the area of the building
where I was was very unstable.

There was an emergency physician
on standby

that kept stopping to ask
if they should amputate.

If they amputated my leg,

they could all get out
quickly and safely.

Instead, these men,
these firemen, kept saying,

"give us 20 more minutes.
Give us 20 more minutes."

Finally, they said,
"we're gonna count to 3,

and we're gonna pull.
This is probably gonna hurt."

I came out from under the rubble
for the first time,

and every nerve in my body
came alive.

But I didn't care
because I was free.

I was buried alive 6 1/2 hours.

I'll never forget that first
breath of fresh air that I took.

And I remember looking up
at the sky and promising God,

"I will never live
my life the same."

Man:
In Oklahoma City, a possible
breakthrough in the case.

That one interview was a quantum
leap in the investigation.

Man: The FBI released composite
drawings of two suspects --

white males of medium build.

♪♪

Clinton:
Let there be no room for doubt.

We will find the people
who did this.

When we do, justice will be
swift, certain, and severe.

We have had hundreds,
if not thousands,

of leads from individuals

calling in
to reputed eyewitnesses.

Each one of those is treated
very seriously.

From the very start,
people thought this was

a Middle-East connection.

The Alfred Murrah --
this was following

the World Trade Center bombing
in New York City

in February of 1993.

And that, in fact,
was an Islamist attack.

Woman:
So, your assessment, then,

probably is
a Middle-East connection.

I think there's a real
possibility

it was
a Middle-Eastern group.

I knew it was a truck bomb
because of the crater

in front of the Murrah Building.

If you got a big hole
in the ground,

you know it was delivered
there by a truck.

So, the FBI start looking
for pieces of the explosion.

And the first thing we turned up
was the axle for that truck.

A twisted axle of what may have
been the car with the explosives

was found two blocks
from the Federal Building.

Clark: There's a VIN number
on the truck axle.

So, they're able to find out
the make and model

and find out
where the truck came from.

That's a huge lead for us.

And within an hour,
we knew it was rented by Ryder.

Ryder gave us the location
where it was rented.

A place called Elliott's Body
Shop in Junction City, Kansas.

Man: Sources tell CNN that the
vehicle used in the explosion

was rented
in Junction City, Kansas,

about a 300-mile drive
from Oklahoma City.

We went to Elliott's Body Shop.
Dispatched agents up there.

Potok: They're trying to get
a description and a name,

hopefully, of the person
who rented the truck.

Ronan: They found out
that the truck had been rented

by a guy
by the name of Robert Kling.

But all of his information
was bogus --

his address, his phone number,
and the like.

Potok: The FBI at
Elliott's Body Shop, of course,

interviews the employees,

who believe they've seen whoever
it was who rented the truck.

Coulson: The interviews
where the truck was rented

revealed two people
came into the establishment

and rented a truck.

Man: The day after the bombing
of the federal building

in Oklahoma City,
a possible breakthrough

in the case.

The FBI released composite
drawings of two suspects --

white males of medium build.

Coulson:
So, we called them John Doe
number 1 and John Doe number 2.

Kenney: Both of these men should
be considered armed

and extremely dangerous.

Coulson: After we got
the pictures, agents go out

all over that part of the world

and show the picture
at every road stop, every hotel.

Potok:
One of those teams

winds up at a place called
the Dreamland Motel,

which is run by a woman
named Lee McGowan.

Coulson: When the agents
went to the motel,

they showed both pictures.

The FBI came in and showed me
some drawings, and I stated,

"This picture looks similar
like a client who stayed here."

The only one that
the manager identified

was John Doe number 1.

McGowan: And he was, very
friendly, very outgoing, smiled,

and he paid in cash.

And then comes
this remarkable moment,

really, the break in the case,

where Lee McGowan shows
the agents her guest register,

and, lo and behold, the man
who had rented the Ryder truck

had signed the register
"Tim McVeigh."

Coulson: So, it was a huge jump
in the investigation.

Now we know
who we're looking for.

Why he used his own name there
I will never know.

But sometimes we hope
that the people we're chasing

are not as smart
as they should be.

Ronan: Investigators found
another clue on the register

at the Dreamland Motel,
one that put Terry Nichols,

the man who helped Tim McVeigh
build the bomb, on the radar.

Coulson: We had an address
based on his registration card

at the Dreamland Motel.

Potok: McVeigh had put down
on the register

as his home address
the address in Michigan

of Terry Nichols' brother.

Rowan:
McVeigh had actually lived there

with the Nichols brothers
a while back.

Coulson:
We immediately dispatched agents

to Decker, Michigan,
to see where it's gonna lead.

♪♪

Potok: Terry Nichols is at home
in Herington, Kansas,

and sees this on TV
and is frightened to death.

You know,
Nichols somehow thought

he was just gonna kind of
slide away from this thing.

Coulson: He's thinking,
"I better go talk to these guys.

He rushes into the police
station and gives himself up.

Man: He came into the station
at approximately 2:30 today.

He identified himself
as Terry Lynn Nichols

and that he had seen
his name on TV.

So, at this point,
the FBI agents are thinking,

"could this be
our John doe number 2?"

Coulson: The agents took his
picture back to the same place

that the Van Was rented from.

The guy said,
"No, that's not the guy."

♪♪

He was not John Doe number 2.

♪♪

At that point, of course,
they had no idea

where in the world
is Timothy McVeigh.

Ronan: They don't realize
that their guy,

their suspect, is sitting
in a jail in Perry, Oklahoma,

less than two hours away.

Potok: He is about to be brought
before the judge,

who is, undoubtedly,
going to make

some kind of bond arrangement

and let him drive off
into the sunset.

But for the FBI,
they're man hunters,

and the first thing they did

was do a national crime
information center search to see

if he'd contact
with law enforcement.

And we found out
shortly after the bombing,

an Oklahoma highway patrolman,
Charles Hanger, arrested him.

Man: He was in the process
of being led to the courthouse

for a bond hearing
when that phone call was made

and could have walked free
in as little as 30 minutes.

♪♪

We jumped in the helicopter

and flew up there as fast
as we could get there.

So, we went in
and confronted him.

They said, "Do you know
why we're here?"

And he says, "it's about
that thing in Oklahoma City."

Clark:
Had this whole investigation

been delayed a few hours,

Timothy McVeigh probably
would have been gone.

Hanger: I've always said
that it was divine intervention

that put all
those things in place.

♪♪

Clark: The word gets out that
the person arrested for this

is in the jail
in Perry, Oklahoma.

And people start gathering
in the area

outside the courthouse,
waiting for him.

Man: The Noble County Courthouse
in Perry, Oklahoma,

was ringed with police officers
and several hundred spectators,

all in anticipation
of seeing Timothy McVeigh.

And then the door opens,
and out walks Timothy McVeigh

in an orange jumpsuit.

Potok:
This wasn't evil Muslims.

These weren't people
who believed in some religion

that we don't like.

A blue-eyed,
fair-haired American boy

had been found
to be the perpetrator.

This was, you know,
the neighbor of all of us.

Downs: I remember being
in the hospital,

and the nurses were all crowded
around a TV,

and the realization hit me
that...a person did this.

Like, a person did this.

I really could not wrap my mind
around that.

I was just in disbelief that
somebody would want to cause

so much destruction
and ruin so many lives.

Man: A nationwide search
is continuing

for a second suspect
in the bombing.

He's known only
as John Doe number 2,

a white male, medium build,
with brown hair

and a tattoo on his left arm.

In the course
of the following months,

there are people
all over the country

who claim they know
who John Doe number 2 is.

[ Telephone ringing ]

FBI hotline.

Man:
The FBI continues to receive
leads phoned in by the public.

This winds up being
an incredible pain for the FBI.

In the end, the FBI finds
that a particular soldier

went to Elliott's Body Shop
on the day after McVeigh

was there to do
his own business.

And he matched
that John Doe 2 picture.

Ronan: There was never any
John Doe number 2.

Turned out it was just a case
of mistaken identity.

But there were many people
who believed that

for something
as diabolical as this act

was that there had to be
more people involved.

After McVeigh was arrested,
we were assigned to learn

everything we could
about his background,

his family, his friends.

I was immediately sent over
to Tim McVeigh's home,

where his dad lived.

There was a horde
of federal agents,

state police, surrounding
Bill McVeigh's house.

And there was dozens and dozens
of members of the media,

and nobody was
getting to Bill McVeigh.

Everyone was in a state
of shock.

They did not believe
that Tim McVeigh,

this all-American kid,

was capable of something
that horrible.

It's just -- It's unbelievable.

He was never a harmful person.

He was -- He was pretty much
to himself.

He was very quiet
and liked children.

Neighbors would bring up
the fact

that "He would
babysit for me."

It didn't seem that there was
a mean bone in his body.

He had a deep sensitivity
about him,

and that sensitivity
would later play against him.

His dad worked in a factory.
His mother was a travel agent.

He had two sisters, and they
were all close in a sense.

But Tim McVeigh did not have
an idyllic childhood.

There was a lot of fighting
going on.

And they tried to provide
a good, stable home,

but Tim's mother had moved out
and moved to Florida,

and she took
the two girls with her.

He stayed with his father,
who he was not close to.

His father was a very taciturn,
kind of shy, interned man.

McVeigh was hassled,
bullied by other kids.

He was a kid who spent
all of this time by himself,

immersed himself in
science fiction, in comic books,

"Star Trek"-type stories.

And that really seemed in a way
to kind of become his world.

You know, so, this is
an alienated kid,

someone who doesn't get much
from either of his parents

and doesn't have many people
in the world at all.

But McVeigh did have one person
in the world

he could confide in.

That was his grandfather,
Ed McVeigh.

And I think some of
Tim McVeigh's happiest moments

of his childhood
were being out in the woods

with his grandfather

and the grandfather
teaching him all about guns.

Potok:
His grandfather, Eddie McVeigh,

was a hunter who initially
introduced Tim McVeigh

to guns and to hunting.

Ronan: Tim McVeigh learned
how to hunt and fire a rifle,

and he became quite a good shot
at a young age.

Potok:
So, McVeigh, as he got older,

began to read all kinds
of radical literature.

He got more into
"Soldier of Fortune" magazine

and kind of survivalist ideas,

and a lot of that
was through his grandfather.

Ronan: After McVeigh graduates
from high school,

he does manage to find himself
a couple of part-time jobs.

He's working now
for an armored-car company,

and he's doing overnight shifts
at the zoo in Buffalo

as a security guard.

But nothing is really
clicking with him,

and he decides
that he needs some direction.

One day he comes home,
and he tells his father,

"Dad, I'm going in the Army."

And his father says, "When?"
"Tomorrow."

McVeigh looked at it
as free ammo to shoot guns.

He is fascinated by weapons.

And the Army is the ultimate
storehouse for weaponry.

He really kind of flourished
in the Army.

He was the ultimate
gung-ho soldier.

He'd get up an hour early,
before anyone else,

and start getting ready
for an inspection.

When other soldiers
were finished for the day,

McVeigh would throw
on his knapsack.

He'd be hiking around the base.

And more than anything else,
McVeigh is a good shot.

For the first time in his life,

he really belonged to something
that he was proud of.

♪♪

Then the first Gulf War happens,
and he goes over there.

And the script is
kind of flipped on him.

Herbeck: He started to realize
that America,

in his mind,
was the biggest, meanest,

cruelest bully
in the entire world.

Potok: More and more,
he's getting wrapped up

in their conspiracy theories.

♪♪

After Timothy McVeigh
was arrested,

deputies found a packet
of anti-government literature

in his getaway car
that he claimed he left behind

to help shed light
on his motive for the bombing.

But years later, McVeigh decided
to explain everything himself.

In a shocking prison interview,

he describes his twisted
interpretation of justice.

So, what was it
that McVeigh says

turned a high-school misfit
into a monster?

That's coming up
in the second hour

of "How It Really Happened."

I'm Hill Harper.

Thanks for watching.