'An American Bombing:' What to know about the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, HBO documentary

A new HBO Original documentary recently premiered depicting the events surrounding the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing ahead of the 29th anniversary.

Here's what to know about the documentary, the Oklahoma City bombing and the people involved.

'An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th' product of Katie Couric, Marc Levin

“An American Bombing: The Road to April 19th" is a new HBO Original documentary that premiered on April 16 on HBO and will be available to stream on Max.

The film is executive produced by Katie Couric, who covered the 1995 tragedy and was the first journalist to interview some of the families of those killed after the bombing.

Marc Levin directed and produced the film. He and fellow "An American Bombing" producer Daphne Pinkerson previously worked with NBC and respected journalist and Oklahoma native Bill Moyers on the 1996 documentary "Oklahoma City: One Year Later.”

When was the Oklahoma City bombing?

The bombing occurred at 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995, and left at least 168 people dead, injured more than 680 others, and destroyed more than one-third of the building, the rest of which had to be demolished. The blast destroyed or damaged 324 other buildings within a 16-block radius, shattered glass in 258 nearby buildings, and destroyed 86 cars, causing an estimated $652 million worth of damage.

What happened during the Oklahoma City bombing?

The Oklahoma City bombing was a domestic terrorist truck bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City on April 19, 1995.

It was the deadliest act of terrorism in U.S. history until the September 11 attacks in 2001 surpassed it. It remains the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history, and is the second-deadliest act of terrorism to occur in the U.S. overall.

Who did the Oklahoma City bombing? What to know about Timothy McVeigh, conspirators

Two anti-government extremists and white supremacists, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, planned and executed the bombing.

McVeigh, a veteran of the Gulf War and a sympathizer with the U.S. militia movement, had detonated a Ryder rental truck full of explosives that he parked in front of the building. Nichols had assisted with the bomb's preparation.

Within 90 minutes of the explosion, McVeigh was stopped by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Charlie Hanger for driving without a license plate and arrested for illegal weapons possession. Forensic evidence quickly linked McVeigh and Nichols to the attack; Nichols was arrested, and within days, both were charged.

The bombers were tried and convicted in 1997.

McVeigh was sentenced to death and was executed by lethal injection on June 11, 2001, at the U.S. federal penitentiary in Terre Haute, Indiana.

Where is Terry Nichols today?

Nichols was sentenced in his federal case in 1998 and a state case in 2004 to life in prison. He is currently held at the "supermax" prison in Florence, Colorado, which also holds several other high-profile inmates, including Unabomber Ted Kaczynski, Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, Sept. 11 conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui and convicted drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, reports CBS.

Who is Michael Fortier?

Michael Fortier was the star witness against McVeigh and Nichols. Fortier served nearly 11 years for never warning anyone of the bombing plot, for helping McVeigh move and sell stolen guns and for lying to the FBI after the April 19, 1995, attack.

In 2006, he was released. Fortier, his wife Lori, and their two children disappeared into the federal Witness Protection Program, according to the Dallas Morning News.

How Ruby Ridge, Waco Seige inspired Timothy McVeigh

The events in Oklahoma City are connected to a long thread of events related to distrust of the federal government among far-right extremists in the 1990s.

Timothy McVeigh was unhappy about the U.S. federal government's handling of the Ruby Ridge incident in 1992, and he later drove to the siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas in 1993. There, he distributed pro-gun and anti-government literature.

McVeigh timed his attack in Oklahoma City to coincide with the second anniversary of the fire that ended the siege.

And the Waco "massacre" as it is often called, has endured as a deep source of hatred and distrust of the federal government among far-right extremists.  A few years later, an Austin talk show host in his 20s led a group of volunteers to rebuild the chapel on the Waco site. His name was Alex Jones.

Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum

The creation of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum was a cooperative effort involving many people and all levels of government. In 1995, Oklahoma City Mayor Ron Norick appointed a 350-member task force to explore ways to remember this tragic event and honor those killed.

In March 1999, the task force called for the creation of a memorial to remember "those who were killed, those who survived and those changed forever."

Oklahoma City bombing victims

The Oklahoma City bombing committed by Timothy McVeigh killed 168 people, 19 of which were children. These are the names and faces of those who died.

This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC bombing documentary: What to know about Timothy McVeigh, timeline