Murrah videos remain secret

By Nolan Clay

Published: November 24, 2006

In the seconds after the Oklahoma City bombing, two people huddle in a hallway, trying to keep from being overcome by dust-filled air.

Others flee down a stairwell, over or around fallen debris.

One is taken out on a stretcher.

The images are from a 1995 security videotape at the Journal Record Building, just north and across the street from the targeted Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

The Oklahoman obtained a copy of the grainy videotape this year from a source involved in the bombing trials. It never before has been seen publicly.

Other security camera videotapes from that morning still remain secret, almost 12 years after the terrorist attack.

The secrecy has prompted some to question whether the videotapes show someone else was with bomber Tim McVeigh as he drove the bomb truck to the Murrah Building.

"If the public is to have faith in their government, we cannot keep secrets like this. We cannot keep it from the public as a whole," U.S. Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said in a lengthy speech from the floor of Congress last year on the 10th anniversary of the bombing.

"Whatever is on the video, it is time for the American people to see it. ... There is no longer any excuse."

Rohrabacher, a California Republican, had planned to have a congressional subcommittee hearing this year on the Oklahoma City bombing. He said Tuesday he will not have a hearing after all because key witnesses are unavailable.

The blurry videotape from the Journal Record Building does not appear to show any images of the bomb truck.

The bomb truck was seen from a security camera at the Regency Tower, which is east of the Journal Record Building. Photos from the Regency Tower security camera were introduced at McVeigh's trial.

Many of the images from the Journal Record Building are interior images. They appear to be taken by a dozen or so security cameras in rotation. There is no sound.

The Journal Record Building was severely damaged in the April 19, 1995, attack. It now houses the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum.

The images — even though they are indistinct — do show how an ordinary day became a nightmare after the bomb went off at 9:02 a.m.

The images at the exact moment of the bombing are black or a white glare and shaky. The time on the videotape appears to be a few minutes off the actual time.

FBI agents recovered the videotape the day of the explosion, a report shows.

Randy Hogan, the building's owner at the time, said, "We handed it over to the FBI that afternoon. ... The one (view) they were interested in was the alley, the south alley, obviously."

The Oklahoman told Hogan the videotape was grainy and didn't show much. Hogan said, "I think I remember hearing the exact same thing from them. ... We were certainly keenly interested to see if they caught anything from it. We wanted to help any way we could."

McVeigh was executed in 2001 for the attack. He always insisted he drove the truck alone to Oklahoma City. He said he had help building the bomb only from a friend, Terry Nichols.

Nichols, 51, is serving life in prison in a federal penitentiary in Colorado for his role in the bombing.

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