Timothy McVeigh, the perpetrator of the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995, was born in Lockport, New York, on April 23, 1968, as the only son and second of three children to his Irish American parents, Noreen Mildred and William McVeigh.
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Timothy McVeigh’s great-great-grandfather, Edward McVeigh, immigrated from Ireland to Niagara County in 1866. McVeigh was raised by his father in Pendleton, New York after his parents divorced when he was ten years old.
His grandfather introduced him to firearms. McVeigh told people he wanted to open a gun shop and would bring firearms to school to impress his classmates. After graduating from high school, he became intensely interested in gun rights and the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, and he read magazines such as Soldier of Fortune.
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McVeigh, a Gulf War veteran, sought vengeance on the federal government for the 1993 Waco siege, the 1992 Ruby Ridge incident, and American foreign policy. He hoped to spark a revolution against the federal government and defended the bombing as a legitimate tactic against a tyrannical government.
Shortly after the bombing, he was arrested and charged with 160 state and 11 federal offences, including the use of a weapon of mass destruction. In 1997, he was found guilty on all counts and sentenced to death.
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