On April 19, 1995, America was rocked by a homegrown terrorist attack — the Oklahoma City bombing. This Saturday, NewsNation looks back at the heroes and the journalists who were there as the chaos unfolded. Tune in to “ON AIR LIVE: Oklahoma City bombing: 30 years later” at 9p/8C. Find out how to watch .
April 19, 1995 — at 9:02 a.m., a 4,800-pound truck bomb exploded in front of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, killing 168 people, including 19 children, and injuring more than 800 others. A third of the building was reduced to rubble in seconds, and nearly 300 nearby buildings were damaged or destroyed. At first, many believed foreign terrorists were behind the attack. But the truth stunned the nation — it was carried out by Timothy McVeigh, a U.S. military veteran, with help from Terry Nichols. Both were antigovernment extremists. McVeigh and Nichols were convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder and using a weapon of mass destruction. An accomplice, Michael Fortier, was also indicted. NBC’s Mike Boettcher was one of the few journalists to interview McVeigh and led the network’s coverage of the bombing…