Oklahoma City Bombing - Casualties

Casualties

It is estimated that 646 people were inside the building when the bomb exploded. By the end of the day of the bombing, twenty were confirmed dead, including six children, and over one hundred injured. The toll eventually reached 168 confirmed dead, not including an unmatched leg that could have belonged to a possible, unidentified 169th victim. Most of the deaths resulted from the collapse of the building, rather than the bomb blast itself. Those killed included 163 who were in the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, one person in the Athenian Building, one woman in a parking lot across the street, a man and woman in the Oklahoma Water Resources building, and a rescue worker struck on the head by debris.

The victims ranged in age from three months to seventy-three years, in addition to the unborn children of three pregnant women. Of the dead, 99 worked for the federal government. Eight of the victims were federal law enforcement agents; 4 from the United States Secret Service, 2 from the United States Customs Service, 1 from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, and 1 from the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. Nineteen of the victims were children, fifteen of whom were in the America's Kids Day Care Center. The bodies of the 168 victims were identified at a temporary morgue set up at the scene. A team of 24 identified the victims using full-body X-rays, dental examinations, fingerprinting, blood tests, and DNA testing. More than 680 people were injured. The majority of the injuries were abrasions, severe burns, and bone fractures.

McVeigh later justified his killing of children in the bombing: "I didn't define the rules of engagement in this conflict. The rules, if not written down, are defined by the aggressor. It was brutal, no holds barred. Women and kids were killed at Waco and Ruby Ridge. You put back in faces exactly what they're giving out."