A heroic police officer rescued at least three people after the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing. A year later, he was found shot in the head A photo of Oklahoma City police officer Terry Yeakey, taken by Cottrell A. Dawson on the day of the attack in 1995, appears in the book “In Their Name,” a tribute to the tragedy’s victims, survivors and rescue workers. (Will Lanzoni/CNN)
OKLAHOMA CITY — The bombing memorial is a somber and beautiful place, framed by two monuments called the Gates of Time.
The 9:01 Gate commemorates the innocence before the explosion, which happened at 9:02 a.m. and became known as the deadliest act of domestic terrorism in U.S. history.
The 9:03 Gate represents “the moment healing began.”
But some survivors never healed. With time, their suffering only got worse.
This story is about one of those people. His name was Terry Yeakey. He was an Oklahoma City police officer and a military veteran. Yeakey saved at least three people from the ruins of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building on April 19, 1995, the day a terrorist attack killed 168 people and injured hundreds of others.
Something happened to Yeakey in those hours in the wreckage. He was badly shaken, and his worldview seemed to change. In time, he grew suspicious and afraid. He ran afoul of his supervisors. He went on secret missions, withholding his motives and plans from fellow officers. He seemed to be conducting his own investigation.
And then, 385 days after the bombing, his body was found near some trees in a field off a country road.
His wrists were cut.
His neck was cut.
He’d been shot through the head.
The authorities said it was suicide. But among those who knew Terry Yeakey, not many believed he had killed himself.
In a recent interview, his sister Lashon Hargrove said this:
Click for Full Text!