OKLAHOMA CITY, April 19 (UPI) -- The ninth anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing was observed Monday with the traditional 168 seconds of silence representing each of the victims.
The moment was observed at 9:02 a.m., the exact time a truck bomb ripped through the Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995. The names of the dead were then read during the hour-long ceremony at the First United Methodist Church.
"Nine years ago this day our community came together to help one another as this city and its people overcame one of the worst terrorist acts in American history," said Frank Hill, chairman of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation.
The circumstances surrounding the ceremony were different this year in that one of the two men charged in the bombing, Terry Nichols, is on trial at McAlester on state murder charges filed in the bombing case.
Nichols, who received a life sentence in federal court, could receive the death penalty if he is convicted in the state case. Timothy McVeigh, the mastermind behind the attack, was convicted in federal court and executed three years ago.
