COVERING THE UNIVERSITY
Inside
T
[hursday
Sports
Gymnastics teams
compete at NCAA meets,
page 11
Arts & Entertainment
San Francisco store tries to
make it in Lincoln, page 14
40?
VOL. 94 NO. 145
April 20, 1995
Death toll rising
in Oklahoma City
Compiled from
The Associated Press
OKLAHOMA CITY—A worker
died sitting in his office.
A woman burned to death getting
out of her car.
Children’s toys blew from a day
care center onto the street below.
Time stopped in downtown Okla
homa City at 9:04 am. Wednesday
when a car bomb exploded outside the
Alfred Murrah Federal Building.
At least 31 people were killed, in
cluding 12 children. More than 200
were injured—58 critically, Fire Chief
Gary Marrs said. Two hundred re
mained missing early today.
As the rain continued Wednesday
night in Oklahoma City, so did the
search efforts. Scores were feared
trapped in the building’s rubble.
The death toll was certain to rise.
“Our firefighters are havingtocrawl
over corpses in areas to get to people
that are still alive,” said Assistant Fire
Chief Jon Hansen.
The blast ripped a nine-story hole
in the office building. A second-floor
day-care center was demolished.
The blast could be felt up to 30
miles away, but the mayhem stretched
across the country. Federal buildings
in several cities—including Omaha
— were evacuated because of bomb
threats.
There was no claim of responsibil
ity for the attack, the deadliest U.S.
bombing in 75 years.
Attorney General Janet Reno de
clined to comment on who might have
been behind the attack, but said the
death penalty would be sought against
them. President Clinton called the
bombers “evil cowards.”
Workers in the federal building
front offices tumbled out of the nine
story building to the street below. One
man fell into the 30-foot-wide bomb
crater.
“It was like Beirut; everything was
burning and flattened,” said Dr. Carl
Spengler, who was one of the first
doctors at the scene.
The injured left a trail of blood for
blocks as they fled. Rescue workers
evacuated a five-block radius, where
windows were blown out in nearly
every building.
Christopher Wright of the Coast
Guard, who was inside the building
giving aid, said rescuers periodically
turned off their chainsaws and prying
tools to listen for calls of help.
“We didn’t hear anything —just
death,” Wright said.
“You’re helpless really, when you
see people twcieetaway,you can’t do
anything, they’re just smashed.”
The bombing heightened U.S. fears
of terrorism. The explosion was simi
lar to the terrorist car bombing that
killed six people and injured 1,000 at
New York’s World Trade Center in
February 1993.
The explosion also occurred cm the
second anniversary ofthe fiery ending
to the federal siege of the Branch
Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
The FBI wouldn’t speculate if there
was a connection.
“Obviously no amateur did this,”
said Oklahoma Gov. Frank Keating.
“Whoever did this was an animal.”
Scene of the bombing
Developments Wednesday in the Oklahoma City federal office building explosion:
THE BUILDING
Alfred R Murrah Federal
Buiidtng, nine-story federal
office building where more
than 500 people work.
THE BOMB
Believed to be 1,000-to
: tjMOfound car bomb.
r™hften OUlSKfe DUIJCttOQ
about 9 a.m.
CASUALTIES
Attest 31 dead, including 12
sNttte. and more than 200
injured. Another 200
unaccounted for.
SUSPECTS
No on* claimed
responsibility. Federal
authorities said terrorist
act is possibility.
Alfred P Murrah Federal Building
( Journal Record Building
Bob Bianchini/AP, Doug Kouma/DN
Full Coverage - Page 2
^Former Daily
Nebraskan columnist
Sam Kepfield
provides insight on
the tragedy.
B Federal buildings
across the nation
receive bomb threats,
tighten security.
g|At (east 12 children in
day care center
among the victims.
‘I had to get the hell out’
By Chad Lorenz
Staff Reporter
The walls closed in on Mindy
(Leiter) Kepfield as she was knocked
down by the blast that rocked the
federal building in downtown Okla
homa City Wednesday.
Kepfield, a reporter for The Okla
homa Journal Record and 1994 Uni
versity of Nebraska-Lincoln gradu
ate, said in a telephone interview that
thick smoke consumed everything
around her as debris rained from the
ceiling.
Kepfield was a staff reporter for
from 1991. to
m.
The explo
sion, which
originated from
bomb out
the federal
building, blew
out every win
dow in thenews
room of The
Journal Record,
she said. The
newspaper is
across from the federal building.
The bomb blew away an entire side
Kepneld
of the nine-story federal buildingabout
9 a.m., leavingat least 31 people dead,
200 injured and another 200 unac
counted for.
Kepfield said she first thought her
building was on fire.
“I had to get the4iell out,” she said.
Her co-workers in the first-floor
newsroom evacuated out the back
doors and regrouped at The Journal
Record’s parking garage, Kepfield
said.
Everyone looked battered, she said,
but the only serious injuries she ob
See WITNESS on 2
Student assistants trained to look for suicide signs
By Matthew Waite
Senior Reporter
Student assistants in the resi
dence halls receive hours of train
ing on suicide warning signs and
prevention, housing administrators
said Wednesday.
After the weekend death of a
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
freshman from an apparent suicide,
the Residence Education depart
ment in the Office of University
Housing released materials used to
train student assistants.
According to the documents, stu
dent assistants are trained in three
areas relating tosuicide: crisis pre
vention, understanding suicide and
emergency procedures.
UNL Police Sgt. Bill Manning
said Tuesday there had been eight
suicide attempts since March 1994.
Six of those have been in the Abel
Sandoz residence hall complex.
In the student assistant classes,
students are taught to look for warn
ing signs—some behavioral, some
emotional and some physical.
The signs listed in the docu
ments include:
•Physical signs, such as changes
in appetite, chronic headaches,
weight gain, persistent nausea and
peptic ulcers.
•Emotional signs, such as ner
vousness, anger, depression, panic,
guilt and paranoia.
•Behavioral signs, such as de
nial, inability to concentrate, ex
cessive drinking, criminal behavior
and a preoccupation with the past.
Eight of 10 people who commit
suicide give wamingsigns, accord
ing to the documents.
Glen Schumann, acting director
of housing, said statistics showed
that students just entering college
were most at risk for committing
suicide.
“It’s an ongoing concern for us,”
he said.
In the residence halls, Schumann
said student assistants usually were
the first to recognize the signs of
suicide. They are instructed to no
tify their residence directors as soon
as they think there is a problem, he
said.
Then, the residence director or
student assistant tries to get coun
seling for the student from the Uni
versity Health Center. The docu
ments warn student assistants to
recognize their limitations in coun
seling.
Every suicide sign may not be
serious, Schumann said, but is still
treated seriously by housing staff.
“People say things to get atten
tion,* he said. '‘We have to ferret all
that out.”
