Well, after interviewing some of the people, what had happened, the bombDavid Young had set the bomb to have what they call a dead-man switch. What had happenedI can't explain it. I walked into the bathroom and there was the suspect that had started this whole mess, layin' there on the floor with ahe had a pistol in his hand and you could tell he had shot himself in the head. [8] This unintentionally activated the triggering mechanism and the bomb exploded, severely injuring Doris, and filling the room with black smoke and pockets of fire. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Cheyenne. Yeah. Contact us at
[email protected] for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. And knew what they could do? I gathered up some of the equipment that I would need and a change of clothes and proceeded to Cokeville. Transcriber's notes: I have added some reference footnotes to this transcript where I thought appropriate. . I mean, okay, you lose the Twin Towers, you might get the Pentagon damaged, but if somebody's town hall or school is blown up in Star Valley [Wyo.] Cook, the school's secretary and the first person taken hostage, could tell Young's threats were serious. And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. She was a total torch! It was within the first few weeks that the Hartley boy was explaining his witness. The two died after the bomb. The timelines of some events are fuzzy Its hard to nail down what stands out the most, there were a LOT of crazy things I'd never seen before then, or since really. Because it was sittin' low enough and the kids were low enough that it would have done it. When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. It's just something that you just have to stay on top of. And they had trouble keeping people away from the building. But we knew what our story was, and that it could help offer hope. When did Cokeville miracle happen? They attempted to crowd 154 people into one of the two first grade classrooms, a room with a total capacity of 30 students and a teacher. In the classroom, David held the gasoline bomb, with the triggering mechanism attached to a string tied around his wrist. My name is Kamron Wixom, I was a 12 year old 6th grader in 1986 when a mad man took over my school (Cokeville Elementary) with a bomb and his guns. There are a select number of people that would do this, so thank you. I went from within two feet of the bomb to right near the door within ten minutes before the bomb went off. As I sat there and watched him, I could feel he was becoming agitated. David became increasingly agitated, and decided to leave the room. David Young. But I walked up to the window and looked inside the window and didn't hardly see anything out of the ordinary except it was all black inside. Cokeville Miracle Marking 25 Years.. Two of the three blasting caps on the bomb failed to detonate; the wires to each tuna can had been reportedly cut. You start messing with the kids, now you're going to have yourself a war. They're the ones that died from the whole thing. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. Mark Junge: This was a life-changing event. Rich Haskell: Pretty sophisticated guy is what he was. When Deppe and Mendenhall finally got wind of his plans moments before the hostage crisis unfolded, they refused to participate. Maybe writing that up 2 years ago when this came along was more healing for me than for him, but I gave it all to him! it is VERY LDS, and yet there are at least 3 other churches in town: Episcopal, Catholic, Baptist (and sometimes a non-denominational church). David set himself near the center of the room with the grocery cart bomb nearby, as Doris went from room to room rounding up people. Cokeville officially has only536 people in it and two LDS wards that meet in the same chapel. After a stand-off lasting two and a half hours, the gasoline bomb the couple had brought into the school went off prematurely, badly burning Doris Young while David Young was out of the room. Did you see anything? Sept. 21, 2010. A Project of the Wyoming Historical Society. The bomb did detonate and fire, thick black smoke and toxi fumes filled the room. Mark Junge: And your great-grandkids? Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! The gasoline bottle was leaking. I think it was still in his body. Mark Junge: But all of these holes were above the level of the children. The hostage takers took part in the singing. Mark Junge: You had some bullets in the ceiling that you had to investigate, too. Mark Junge: You'd been tested, though. Cokeville Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. David and Doris both returned to Cokeville on May 16, 1986. Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized.~Transcribed by Russ Sherwin, Feb. 27, 2011. And that's exactly what took place in Cokeville. I contacted the dispatch up in Kemmerer to get firsthand information as to having second- and third-hand information and they informed me that the school indeed had been taken hostage. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. Cokeville seems like a pretty small town. Hey, I am not the survivor, but I spent my summers in Cokeville, my family is from there, and I have been helping on publicity for the film. Trauma is trauma and everyone deals with it differently. Weredo you think it had something to do with angels? It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. It has shaped me to know that God is real. He just said just go do it. I remember seeing the wide eyes on my band teacher as he collapsed with the EMTs afterward. It brings back lots of memories but it doesn't hurt because actually it was a positive experience. Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. She tied the string around her wrist. Rich Haskell: Were above the level of the kids, yeah. I certainly enjoy my grandkids a lot more. TC (the director) also worked incredibly hard to make this a story that can be widely appreciated by members of all faiths. Many of the children who stated they saw angels were of various faiths. Mark Junge: Do you think you've taken more joy out of life because of it? Rich Haskell: Yeah, I think I did. Lenita's father Rocky was a fifth grade teacher at Cokeville Elementary School at the time of the bombing, Lenita was a seventh grader. In the days and weeks immediately after this event, most accounts focused on the horrors of the day. David had also sent a copy of the manifesto to Reagan. He had tried this deviceand they were designed tothat it would be a delayed explosion. One hostage observed a birthday on that day and songs were sung in his honor. Rich Haskell: No. The tuna fish cans, if you can imagine, here's two tuna fish cans sittin' here like this, and a gallon jug of gasoline sittin' above it. The Hilton Garden Suites in Laramie, Wyo. And it burned some children. He did it right. In the movie, it shows the tension building towards the prayer and then shortly after the bomb went off. Returning, David Young shot his wife, then himself. I actually have a pretty clear memory of the events that day, being 12 years old. The woman who died with her husband as they held an elementary school hostage with a gasoline bomb last week was not killed by the . Doris tried numerous times to calm the children by telling them to "think of it as an adventure movie," or that they "would have a great story to tell their grandchildren." Mark Junge: Okay. Teachers were confused and baffled by Young's nonsensical, strange writing. You could walk across the street and get run over as far as that's concerned, but I don't know if my wife has any more gray hairs because I've chosen this profession. Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret Morning News. It packed the brute force of twenty-five sticks of dynamite. The Power of Faith: 25 Years After School Bombing, Town Remembers Story of Survival., Mitchell, Ruth Ann. When I walked inside of the classroomit was a kindergarten classroom which meant that the desks were smaller, everything was smaller because of the smaller children. On May the 16th , 1986, 1 was in Rock Springs at a basketball game. Mark Junge: And what happened? David's youngest daughter from his first marriage, Princess, entered the elementary school with David and Doris, but refused to carry out the plan, leaving to report the incident at the town hall. And it was a perfect trajectory up into the ceiling where that bullet was. I was a little bit nervous, of course. But it didn't. Rich Haskell: The bullet in him was in the bathroom. Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? In 2006, the Cokeville Miracle Foundation compiled a book of recollections about the day from parents, emergency workers and former hostages. They do now - ever since the Youngs barged in on the Cokeville Elementary School with guns and a bomb to demand . Flipboard. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . I didn't touch the body at all. Rich Haskell: There was a reason I was there for some reason. Mark Junge: This bomb was designed to do what? Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. During the Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis. The Cokeville hostage crisis began the afternoon of May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 children and adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. 1 of 7. I immediately went into rendering safehe had brought in several devices with him to place in different places in the room, and there was a lot of ammunition, a lot of guns out in the hallway, and I immediately started rendering all those safe, making sure that those were safe and they could move them out of the building. Rich Haskell: I'm Rich Haskell. Totally destroyed it! Although many were burned, some severely, only the perpetrators of this horrible incident died. But shortly after entering the school, Princess decided to rebel. David Young was the only police officer in Cokeville for six months in 1979. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. The device was set up on afor lack of a better word, I call it a shopping cart. And, then, shortly after 4 p.m., the bomb exploded. Rich Haskell: No. You HAVE to find the positives or the negatives can eat you up the rest of your life. I'm proud of all my children. So many of 'em thatI don't know. Of course, I can imagine the noise that it made. Mark Junge: What were they designed to do? That's why I have a computer. It was in their Tucson home that David came up with what he considered the Biggie, a plan to get rich quick and create a Brave New World. This plan involved Davids longtime friends, Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who believed by investing in Davids scheme they would get rich. where there's only a limited population, that's going to throw the fear of God into everybody. Cokeville Elementary School teachers and staff tried to keep kindergarteners through sixth graders calm and entertained. Mark Junge: So it would have gone upward, but would it have killed the kids? "Move!" At about 9:30 a.m., the bomb disposal squad used a robotic device to shoot out the end caps of the device, remove the . Wyoming has a lot of money as far as the state is concerned. (before I see Hollywood's version). Mark Junge: And that's the lesson we learn. Go to school and learn how to do it." They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. Now you've got problems. I was frightened and felt that we needed to do something to try to calm down or to be careful, because he was so agitated. Immediately following the detonation, the teachers started to shove children into the hallway, and through two open windows onto the grass outside the school, causing chaos as panicked parents tried to break through police lines. Used with thanks. [6] With permission, the teachers brought in books, art supplies and a television to help keep the children occupied. Rich Haskell: Absolutely. Rich Haskell: Sure. Mark Junge: Well, yes. And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. Mark Junge: Did you help bring the body out? Well, with the window being open, with the ceiling tiles being able to lift up and down, I think that absorbed a lot of the explosion of the gasoline bottle. Rich Haskell: Well, as we were talking before we started recording, because of my knowledge with the explosives and with the law enforcement and everything else, I've had many opportunitiesbecause of the explosivesI've been with Vice President Cheney when he was here in Wyoming up in Pinedale. Sue Castaneda: Where did you get your training for that? Kameron Wixom, son of Hartt and Judene Wixom, writes a childlike faith saved us. In his contribution to the Witness to Miracles book, Kameron writes: I didnt have to see angels, hear them, or even think that their presence might be required that day. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville www.wyohistory.org 25 years after school bombing, Wyoming town remembers the . Wyoming Town Still Healing a Year After School Bombing., Schoolhouse Blast Still Felt a Year Later., Survivor is My Name: Cokeville Elementary School Bombing1986 News Report Audio. Audio Recording. [7][5] The reason for the wire cuts are so far unexplained. She was totally burned. Were you portrayed in the movie at all? And if I had been a little less of a jokester I may have seen something in that strange light. You know this is going to sound morbid, but I always thought if the Muslims, the radical Muslims were smart, they would take their jihad to local communities because that would scare the hell out of 'em like it did in Cokeville. Details: At 1:20pm on Friday, May 16, 1986, forty-three-year-old David Young and his forty-seven-year-old wife, Doris, wheeled a shopping cart containing a homemade gasoline-filled bomb into Cokeville Elementary School in Cokeville, Wyoming, just after the lunch hour recess. You know, the kids have forgot about it, let's let 'em move on. Mark Junge: to go through all this? Windows were opened to rid the room of gasoline fumes, and prayers were offered in small groups among the children. David, Doris and Princess proceeded to the elementary school and entered the building shortly after 1 p.m. that Friday. NOTE: Witness to Miracles was published in 2006 by Pronghorn Press, www.pronghornpress.org . Rich Haskell: Yes, I did. Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. Im living proof.. And we allthere was three of us there. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! We figured that he had dropped down on his knee, took his pistol and shot her to put her out of her misery, because when we went out and looked at her, there was a hole up through the bottom of her chin, and it came out the top of her head. He was dismissed, however, from this position shortly after his six-month probationary period. They had a circle of tape around the device itself and they said, "Do not come inside of this circle. Rich Haskell: Absolutely! This is actually the first time I have heard of this.
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