OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) 鈥 Federal officials are resolved never to allow a terrorist attack like the Oklahoma City bombing happen again, Deputy Homeland Security Adviser Caitlin Durkovich told survivors and loved ones of the 168 people killed in the April 19, 1995, bombing Friday.
鈥淲hat happened here in Oklahoma still rests heavy in our hearts; ... what transpired here 29 years ago remains the deadliest act of homegrown terrorism in U.S. history,鈥 Durkovich said in front of a field of 168 bronze chairs, each engraved with the name of a bombing victim, at the Oklahoma City 香港六合彩挂牌资料 Memorial and Museum.
鈥淥ur collective resolve to never let this happen is how we bear witness to the memory and the legacy of those who were killed and those who survived鈥 the bombing, Durkovich told the crowd of more than 100 people as a woman in the crowd wiped tears from her face.
The nearly hour-and-half long ceremony began with 168 seconds of silence for each of those killed and ended with the reading of the names of each of the victims.
Durkovich was joined by Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland, Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt and Oklahoma City Mayor David Holt for the ceremony on a partly sunny, cool and windy morning for the 29th anniversary of the attack on the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building downtown.
鈥淭his is a place where Americans killed Americans,鈥 and the lessons learned after the bombing should be used to address the 鈥減olitical vitriol鈥 of today, Holt said.
鈥淲e don't want more places, and more days of remembrance. This should be enough,鈥 Holt said.
The motives of the bombers included hate, intolerance, ignorance, bigotry, conspiracy theories, misinformation and 鈥渆xtreme political views,鈥 Holt said.
Hatred of the federal government motivated former Army soldier and co-conspirator, Terry Nichols, to commit the attack.
McVeigh鈥檚 hatred was specifically fueled by the government鈥檚 near Waco, Texas, that left 76 people dead and a , Idaho, that left a 14-year-old boy, his mother and a federal agent dead. He picked April 19 because it was the second anniversary of the Waco siege鈥檚 fiery end.
McVeigh was convicted, sentenced to death and executed by in 2001. Nichols was sentenced to life in prison.
Stitt ordered American and state flags on state property to be flown at half-staff until 5 p.m. Friday in remembrance of those killed and injured in the bombing.
鈥淎s the world watched, Oklahomans banded together in a community-wide display of noble humanity,鈥 Stitt said in a statement announcing the order.
