Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 20, 1995 TAG: 9504200095
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Boston Globe
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium
``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,'' Clinton said during a late-afternoon appearance in the White House briefing room. ``These people are killers, and they must be treated like killers.''
Attorney General Janet Reno followed Clinton to the podium at the White House and said the administration would seek the death penalty for those who committed the crime.
Reno cited as her authority the federal statute that governs attacks on federal buildings and said, ``if death occurs, the death penalty is available, and we will seek it.''
Reno said that there were about 550 adults and children in the Alfred P. Murrah building, and that only 250 had immediately been accounted for, suggesting that the toll of dead and critically wounded could easily climb above 100.
John Magaw, the director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said that the initial reports indicated that the blast was caused by a car bomb of 1,000 to 1,200 pounds, which fits a pattern of terrorist bombings.
``Any time you have this kind of damage and this kind of explosion, you have to look there first,'' Magaw told CNN. ``We work very closely whenever it's a situation like this with the FBI, which has jurisdiction in a terrorist act.
``Clearly that would be the direction of interest to begin with,'' said Magaw.
Around Washington and the nation, security was tightened at federal buildings such as the U.S. Capitol and the White House - where passes were double-checked and handbags and lunches X-rayed at the gate - and at FBI headquarters, where a Virginia-based organization called ``Waco Remembrance'' had scheduled a noontime protest to commemorate the second anniversary of the FBI raid on the Branch Davidian cult in Waco, Texas.
``We have directed that federal buildings take any necessary precautions,'' presidential press secretary Michael McCurry said. ``We have taken precautions that we would normally take following an incident like this, yes.''
McCurry said that ``there has not been anything substantive that suggests'' a connection between the Waco anniversary and Wednesday's bombing, aside from the ``coincidence'' of the date.
Magaw sketched a chilling scenario for the blast.
``A vehicle was pulled up in front of the building, and it detonated shortly after 9 o'clock,'' he said. ``It was around 1,000 to 1,200 pounds. By the fact that it is outside, a lot of the force will go straight up, but it will cut that crevasse in the building - the kind of U-shape that you see in the pictures.
``It could be a timing device,'' said Magaw. ``It would not have to be a remote control. It could be set on a timer. And a few minutes after 9 o'clock would have been about the time when most of the people would have been in the building.''
A stern Clinton told reporters that the bombing was ``an attack on innocent children and defenseless citizens. It was an act of cowardice and it was evil. The United States will not tolerate it. And I will not allow the people of this country to be intimidated by evil cowards.''
News of the explosion sent federal emergency officials scrambling to help their counterparts in Oklahoma. Clinton dispatched James Lee Witt, director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, to Oklahoma City, and Chief of Staff Leon Panetta monitored rescue efforts from the White House.
Keywords:
FATALITY
by CNB