Thursday, October 6, 2011
Oklahoma City Bombing
The image of firefighter Chris Fields holding the dying infant Baylee Almon won the Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Photography in 1996.Two people, Lester LaRue and Charles Porter, standing just three feet apart took almost the same image yet it was Charles Porter’s image that won the Pulitzer.
At 9:02, on April 19, 1995, Gulf War vet, Timothy McVeigh detonated 4,800 lbs of fertilizer and fuel oil. The resulting blast destroyed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal government Building and killed 168 people. The bombing, largest act of domestic terrorism, in America, shattered pre-911 America’s innocence.
As the fires raged rescue services and bystanders rushed to pull victims out of the twisted wreckage. Sifting through the rubble police officer, Sgt. John Avera found a small half buried body. Shouting. “I have a critical infant! I have a critical infant!” he thrust the, 1-year-old Baylee Almon into the arms of nearby firefighter Oklahoma City fire Capt. Chris Fields.