Residents of Oklahoma City suffered substantial losses on April 19 , 1995 when Timothy McVeigh detonated a bomb in front of the Murrah building . The building was destroyed ( the remnants of which had to be imploded in a controlled demolition later that year ) , more than 100 nearby buildings suffered severe damage , and 168 people were killed . The site has been commemorated as the Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum . Since its opening in 2000 , over three million people have visited . Every year on April 19 , survivors , families and friends return to the memorial to read the names of each person lost . On June 11 , 2001 , McVeigh was executed by lethal injection
detonated a bomb
Oklahoma City bombing
Oklahoma City