Failed Oklahoma City Copy Cat Bomb Attempt
Jerry Varnell of Sayre, Oklahoma tried to recreate the horrific Oklahoma City Bombing off 1995. Varnell allegedly was angry at the government and banks and sought to take out his rage in the form of a large bomb going off at a bank in Oklahoma. The FBI was able to prevent the attack with the use of an informant and providing the suspect with inactive materials for the bomb.
Varnell was arrested on Saturday the same day the protests in Charlottesville were taking place. Fortunately federal law enforcement was able to prevent Varnell from successfully executing his plan, otherwise this would have been an even more awful day for our great nation.
(Reuters) – An Oklahoma man angry with the government has been arrested by the FBI on charges that he tried to blow up an Oklahoma City bank building with a van he thought was packed with explosives, U.S. prosecutors said on Monday.
Jerry Varnell, 23, of Sayre, Oklahoma, was taken into custody on Saturday after an eight-month investigation. Federal prosecutors said he wanted to use an explosive device similar to the one that was detonated outside a federal building in Oklahoma City in 1995, killing 168 people.
According to a criminal complaint, Varnell told an informant for the Federal Bureau of Investigation that he was seeking retaliation against the government and financial institutions.
“I’m out for blood,'” the complaint quoted Varnell as saying.
Federal prosecutors said in a statement the device he sought to detonate was inert, and the public was not in danger.
“He wanted to make the biggest impact wherever he was going to place this bomb,” FBI agent Raul Bujanda told a news conference in Oklahoma City.
The BancFirst building is a few blocks from where the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building once stood.
Bomber Timothy McVeigh used a fuel and fertilizer bomb to turn the Murrah Federal Building into a tomb of rubble on April 19, 1995, in one of the deadliest attacks in modern U.S. history. More than 680 people were injured. McVeigh was executed in 2001 for his role in that attack.
“We are disheartened that a young man who calls Oklahoma home would resort to domestic terrorism, knowing the deep sense of loss still felt by people impacted by the Oklahoma City bombing,” the Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum said in a statement. The memorial honors the victims, survivors and others affected by the 1995 attack.
Steve
Steve is an affordable multifamily housing professional that is also the co-founder of Whiskey Congress. Steve has written for national publications such as The National Marijuana News and other outlets as a guest blogger on topics covering sports, politics, and cannabis. Steve loves whiskey, cigars, and uses powerlifting as an outlet to deal with the fact that no one listens to his brilliant ideas.
