Located in Lincoln County and nestled between the towns of Star Valley and Kemmerer on the Wyoming-Idaho border, Cokeville, many residents believed, was a safe place to rear children. Trent Toone, Mormon Times. Mark Junge: Do you think you've taken more joy out of life because of it? Number one, that's where he worked. [5][10][8], When the bomb detonated, the majority of the explosive force was channeled through loose ceiling tiles into the roof, and open windows acting as vents. Now you've got problems. Rich Haskell: Well, after I arrived it took probably three to four hours to make sure everything was neutral and everything was not going to be a threat any longer. Box 37, Cokeville, Wyoming 83114. Now you are a bomb technician. 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. What had happenedI can't explain it. Cokeville Bombing - Wyoming Mark Junge: And your great-grandkids? Rich Haskell: No, it's not. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. Edit: Thank you so much for your questions! Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and thirteen teachers hostage at Cokeville Elementary school in Wyoming and kept them at bay with a shopping-cart sized bomb attached to five hairpin-trigger blast caps, it should have ended in great tragedy - one of the worst in American history. You'd had experience? Mark Junge: They don't want it brought up again. The Cokeville hostage crisis began the afternoon of May 16, 1986, when David and Doris Young took 154 children and adults hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. Rich Haskell: Okay, I'll buy that! Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. In 1986 , 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. She lifted her hand up to rub her forehead and when she did that pulled the pin out and detonated the bomb. When did Cokeville miracle happen? It would have killed them. Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? AN EXPLOSION of vapors, resultLing from a combination of circumstances at the Kearney, N. J., plant of the Koppers Coke Company, on May 17, 1948, resulted in the death of ten men and started a . And then he shot himself. She's an avid genealogist, so maybe get involved with that, and maybe go on a mission for the church. It was suggested we say a group prayer and I thought it was a great idea, so I helped gather a group of us together. I actually hadn't thought of doing that, yet. In the movie, it shows the tension building towards the prayer and then shortly after the bomb went off. The miraculous events that followed have changed many people foreverespecially survivor Amy Bagaso Williams. When Columbine took place, it was such a big deal, and I mentioned to a couple people, "You know, Columbine wasn't the first school to have anything happen." Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. It said in there that they had brought blasting caps, ammunition, those types of things in and there was a sealed briefcase that was in the hallway. Because of the experience and the different classes that I've attended, I know what bombs do to people, to buildings and to all kinds of structures. And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. The kids couldn't have cut it. Mark Junge: Well, and it burned some of the kids. And the bathroom was off to the side of it because it was the kindergarten class. So if the state didn't pay him, he figured the Mormon church would pay him because the Mormon church has money also. 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. Do you ever think about that? [5] The leaking gasoline's fumes prompted teachers to open the classroom windows, unknowingly creating vents for the impending explosion. From Tragedy To Triumph- Talking To A Cokeville Bombing Survivor. Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. Rich Haskell: I am. Because of the tiles and the window? Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis, "Radical Right Link Suggested in Hostage Case", "Cokeville Elementary School Bombing | WyoHistory.org", "Couple take over school but die after bomb blast", "Couple in School Blast Linked to Extremist Group", "Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", "A projectile killed Dorris Young, not bomb blast, police in Cokeville say", "In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School", "Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School | WyoHistory.org", University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Liberty Point International Middle School, Central Visual and Performing Arts High School, "'No Way to Prevent This', Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens", List of school shootings in the United States by death toll, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis&oldid=1139490391, Improvised explosive device bombings in the United States, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 15 February 2023, at 11:55. I mean, Columbine, it wasn't that way. I've been involved with law enforcement since 1977 in Sweetwater County. who wins student body president riverdale. and detonated a bomb inside. The Youngs both died that day. Mark Junge: Do you still think about this? Wyoming has a lot of money as far as the state is concerned. Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. I guess I should say I am only speaking as a child, the adults were probably tense the entire time! Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis - Wikipedia They're the ones that died from the whole thing. http://www.cokevillemiracle.com/movie.html, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cokeville_Elementary_School_hostage_crisis. Others miracles were reported and some of those are recorded in this compilation.." Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. This narrative was perpetuated in many publications and productions. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. In most cases I have deleted redundant ands, ers, uhs, buts, false starts, etc. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Lota, Louinn. Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. The incident was detailed in the book The Cokeville Miracle: When Angels Intervene[12] by Hartt Wixom and his wife Judene, published by Cedar Fort, Inc., which formed the basis for a CBS made-for-TV movie titled To Save the Children. When you say what cut the wire? Too many of 'em to try to remember their birthdays. They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. Rich Haskell: That's my oldest boy, Steven. A quarter of a century later, Williams can still vividly recall the chaotic scene following the explosion. David Young was the only police officer in Cokeville for six months in 1979. What should people know going into the film? [5], "You could see that the roof tiles had been lifted out of their brackets. Of what you would picture an angel, with the wings and, Mark Junge: Well, if I'm a skeptic, I could say, "Well, that's just the way the flames shot up.". I was one of 154 survivors in the Cokeville bombing, ask me - Reddit He had just big rings of perspiration. She is a beautiful example of turning tragedy into triumph. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. 96 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from J.Cano: Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode You should also know that TC basically just wove a storyline into and between the facts and witness testimonies. Words emphasized by the speaker are italicized.~Transcribed by Russ Sherwin, Feb. 27, 2011. Young was a former Cokeville town marshal who had been living in Arizona for several years. Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with memories of the presence of angels. 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. The bomb was an improvised explosive device constructed in a small two-wheeled shopping cart with two baskets, one on top of the other. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. Rich Haskell: The bullet in him was in the bathroom. Both David and Doris had ties to white supremacist groups, including the Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. I absolutely have. Rich Haskell: Well, I didn't know a lot about 'em and I still don't know a lot about 'em. With fear that David might become unhinged, the teachers decided to make an ~8-foot square of masking tape for his own personal space.