The man now serving as Special-Agent-In-Charge at the Buffalo office of the Federal Bureau of Investigation previously served with the FBI in Oklahoma City, where he worked in collaboration with many who were on the scene of one of the nation's biggest tragedies 20 years ago this Sunday.
Brian Boetig was not in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995. But years later, when he took his assignment at the FBI's field office there, he rubbed elbows frequently with those who were still living with the legacy of that tragic day, touched off by a domestic terrorist born in Niagara County.
Timothy McVeigh, a veteran of the first Gulf War and later a reported sympathizer with the militia movement, was convicted along with Terry Nichols of carrying out the bombing. It involved a rented truck loaded with explosives that was detonated in front of the Murrah Federal Building. Of the 168 killed in the blast, nearly 20 were children. More than 600 people were reported wounded.
McVeigh was executed for the attack in 2001. Nichols is serving life in prison at the super-maximum ADX Florence facility in Colorado.
Boetig welcomed WBFO into FBI headquarters in Buffalo, where he shared his thoughts on the people who responded to the attack scene, took part in the investigation and then helped unite the Oklahoma City community.
He also discussed the lessons learned from law enforcement, and how their approach to criminal investigations and homeland security were adjusted following the attack.
