They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. 1 of 7. Teachers were confused and baffled by Young's nonsensical, strange writing. Both men were handcuffed in a van outside the school.[1]. Do you ever think about that? It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. If you are interested in seeing the film, theaters are listed here. SHARE Cokeville miracle marking 25 years. #TodayInHistory: Today in 1986, The Cokeville Elementary School crises happened. I actually created a website knowing that people would wonder what was real and what wasn't. But it didn't. Of course, I can imagine the noise that it made. The children and adults escaped after the bomb exploded. Mark Junge: You had some bullets in the ceiling that you had to investigate, too. Seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide. The kids couldn't have done it. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. The bomb did detonate and fire, thick black smoke and toxi fumes filled the room. I called back to my dispatcher and they did inform me that the school in Cokeville was being held hostage by two individuals and there was bombs involved. And they had practiced how to get out of that building. The circuit was powered by a 9-volt lantern battery. What stands out in your mind the most, looking back? It is a touchy topic for us, and could come across the wrong way. If I deleted an entire phrase, I have inserted ellipses . 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. As I sat there and watched him, I could feel he was becoming agitated. Did you see anything? Do you think this is a historical event? Everyone else survived, and many who did recalled the tragedy with memories of the presence of angels. May 16, 1986, will never be forgotten by the residents of Cokeville, Wyo. It's just something that you just have to stay on top of. I cannot explain it! As well as I can. This narrative was perpetuated in many publications and productions. I gathered up some of the equipment that I would need and a change of clothes and proceeded to Cokeville. Everyone else survived, including the injured John Miller. Hi MadreDeUnMono! Debbie Sparks and Steven Moore, both EMTs, discuss on May 9 the elementary school bombing. I think it was still in his body. Go to their hands and knees and crawl out. 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. When the children became increasingly loud, Doris Young began begging the teachers to settle the group down. I was literally blown out the door when the bomb went off , and i remember how time slowed down in those seconds. As I got closer to it I could tell it was a body, and of course, you just start thinking about what took place. Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. Windows were opened to rid the room of gasoline fumes, and prayers were offered in small groups among the children. Edit: Also, were you at that early screening? What is the LDS population of the town and how big was your school? 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. You should also know that TC basically just wove a storyline into and between the facts and witness testimonies. David Young had initially planned to involve longtime friends Gerald Deppe and Doyle Mendenhall, who had invested money with him in a get-rich-quick scheme that he had called "The Biggie. Cokeville Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. Witnesses later testified that just before the explosion David Young had connected the explosive to his wife. Mark Junge: No? Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. Used with permission and thanks. The Hartley story didn't come out publicly until my parents (who wrote the book in the year after the bombing) began asking questions about this kind of thing. Rich Haskell: No. Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. Throughout both baskets were chain links, gunpowder, and boxes of ammunition acting as shrapnel. People who had guns! Twenty-five years ago on Monday, a man and his wife pushed a homemade gasoline bomb into Cokeville's sole elementary school and demanded $300 million in ransom. Wyoming has a lot of money as far as the state is concerned. He was asking large amounts of money. Rich Haskell: Yes, I did. Cokeville officially has only536 people in it and two LDS wards that meet in the same chapel. Thus, when David and Doris Young entered the towns only elementary school with an arsenal of weapons and a gasoline bomb in a grocery cart, no one saw it coming. TC (the director) also worked incredibly hard to make this a story that can be widely appreciated by members of all faiths. The gasoline bottle was leaking. Mark Junge: Had you seen anything like what took place in this classroom before? Also, how long was it before the kids started talking about seeing angels? Survivors began to tell their stories through a spiritual lens. Returning to the scene, David shot his wife, a teacher, then himself. Mark Junge: Okay. On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young took 154 people hostage at the Cokeville Elementary School in tiny Cokeville, Wyo. By Deseret News. I didn't touch the body at all. They learned to trust in their God, the kids were healed for the most part, and they value life more now. How did it affect your family long-term? Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. 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. Davids friends did not know that the Biggie was a plan to take over Cokeville Elementary School, hold each of the children hostage for $2 million dollars apiece and then detonate the bomb, transporting the money and children to his Brave New World, where he would be God. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. This significantly mitigated the explosive power of 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. Mark Junge: What were they designed to do? Rich Haskell: I sometimes do, but you can't let yourself think about it. 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. Im living proof.. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, Casper Chapter, Wyoming Archaeological Society, June Frison chapter, Wyoming Archeological Society. Ahntastic Adventures in Silicon Valley Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! 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. 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. I think it's because of the ages of the kids, to start with. TC, I think, saw it the same way. 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. 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. In what many have since labeled a miracle, all of the 154 children and educators held hostage for three hours at their Cokeville, Wyoming, school lived, though many were injured. I have given that some thought. David emerged from the bathroom to find his wife in excruciating pain. When you say what cut the wire? 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. That your life could change just at a blink of an eye. I never did get to see that untilI think it was two days lateractually what they had taken as far as the paperwork was concerned. So he did try that device. NOTE: Witness to Miracles was published in 2006 by Pronghorn Press, www.pronghornpress.org . They lived in a mobile home with Princess, Davids youngest daughter from his first marriage. I was a little bit nervous, of course. So if the state didn't pay him, he figured the Mormon church would pay him because the Mormon church has money also. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. They're the ones that died from the whole thing. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. 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 . I can't explain it. Mark Junge: Well, you've been blessed in a lot of ways. [4], Prior to the hostage crisis, David had tested a similar bomb in a sealed school bus in Arizona, destroying it.[5]. 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.". On May 16, 1986, David Young, Cokeville's former town marshal, and his wife, Doris, carried five rifles, five handguns and a "dead man's bomb" into the elementary school. This wasn't a simple bomb. Rich Haskell: I'm Rich Haskell. On one hand people didn't want money to be made off of suffering, but on the other hand it felt ungrateful to not share it in the way that TC would or could. You start messing with the kids, now you're going to have yourself a war. Family is the most important thing in a Mormon family. Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. It'sI'm still doing that kind of thing because whenever they hold General Conference in Salt Lake City I go to Salt Lake City to be part of the bomb team for the church while they have General Conference. When I arrived I could see out on the lawn, there was a black object laying out on the grass. In 1986 , 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. Retro Report took a look back at this episode, with a focus on how Johnson & Johnson and . Mark Junge: In fact, didn't you say you burned up your engine? Rich Haskell: Yeah, there was some people ready to just shoot him right where he was sitting. SHARE Cokeville recollects 'miracle' of 1986. Rich Haskell: No, it's not. But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there. Mark Junge: And when you went into the classroom you saw holes in the walls? Mark Junge: That's a record of all the people we've talked to! At that time all of the different agencies was pretty much on the same radio frequency and I was stayin' in touch with them, lettin' them know what my location was and they were in turn telling me what was taking place. It's made me, I think, more open-minded to things and don't take so much for granted anymore. 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. Mark Junge: EOD. Survivor is my Name: Voices of the Cokeville Elementary School Bombing. Produced by Wyoming State Archives for Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, the package includes interviews with 14 people about the events of May 16, 1986. Current students at Cokeville Elementary School aren't taught about the '86 bombing, but most know the general story. . Then when I became a deputy, Sheriff Stark says, "You know, we're going to start finding a bunch of old explosives, dynamite and things. I mean, what it was supposed to do? (before I see Hollywood's version). It's a continuous training thing and years and years and years of continuous training with the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, with the fire marshals and now that it has come into it with the hazardous materials and everything else. They have a lot of first-person histories of the actual event, teachers, investigators and students. Rich Haskell: No. David attached the bomb trigger to his wrist and threatened the group that he might, at any time, move his arm and ignite the bomb. Mark Junge: This bomb was designed to do what? There are a select number of people that would do this, so thank you. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" The miraculous events that followed have changed many people foreverespecially survivor Amy Bagaso Williams. I later learned he'd been shot in the back. Dozens. Mark Junge: Yeah, my brother-in-law worked in the Navy as a chief petty officer and he worked with what they called EOD. I certainly enjoy my grandkids a lot more. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . That's why I have a computer. Mark Junge: But all of these holes were above the level of the children. David Young. She was on fire! And that was their whole intent of coming to Cokeville. Just before implementing the Biggie, David Young had also sent a copy of the document to President Ronald Reagan, the president of Chadron State College and numerous media outlets. I was up there as part of his protection team. Meanwhile, Doris went from classroom to classroom, luring 136 children, six faculty, nine teachers, and three other adults, including a job applicant and a UPS driver, into a first-grade classroom for a total of 154 hostages. I think you should know that it can be difficult to watch - but that it has a very rewarding outcome. It was just shootin' everywhere. At least 74 people, most of them children, suffered second-degree burns when the bomb went off at about 4 P.M. at the Cokeville Elementary School. Chaos ensued. One thing to mention is that the tension in real life seemed much more present at first, and then once prayers were said the mood really lifted. But it still sent flames all over in the room and you can see where all the flames were in that room. Where you find brackets [ ] I have added words for explanation or to complete an awkward sentence. On May 16, 1986, when former town marshal David Gary Young and his wife Doris Young took 154 children and 13 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. Mark Junge: You'd been tested, though. Mark Junge: And you're sheriff in Sweetwater? Anything? Rich Haskell: I don't know the birthdates but I know the names. Here is a local story from the 20 year anniversary (we are at the 29th year now), What's your side of the story? Rich Haskell: Absolutely! We're in a conference room here on the main floor. I don't know. Transcriber's notes: I have added some reference footnotes to this transcript where I thought appropriate. She is a trained rural historian who specializes in oral history, childhood history and memory studies. . On May 16, 1986, David and Doris Young entered Cokeville Elementary School with a gasoline bomb, a variety of rifles and handguns, David's philosophical writings and demands for $300 million The town has worked to be as respectful as possible to the multitude of experiences that day. 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." And afteryou look in there and you could see little pockmarks all through on the walls, and after we finished with our investigationit took us three days to totally do the whole entire sceneyou could tell where those pockmarks were bullets from the heat had gone off. How did you determine how everything looked when this went up in smoke itself. Rich? where there's only a limited population, that's going to throw the fear of God into everybody. No. Some of the children just sat right all around and just watched him. They did a good job telling this story. She was a total torch! ", All told, 79 of the hostages suffered injuries, mostly second-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries from the exploding bomb. So timelines and characters may be switched up, but the overall spirit of it and the facts are laid out true to witness testimonies. I think he went in the Marine Corps because of me and served 25 years and retired. 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. Well, when I arrived at Cokeville, of course they had the roads all blocked off and there was not a lot of people around the school at the time. We had people from ATFAlcohol, Tobacco and Firearmsand there was another bomb technician that came up from Evanstonhe was studying to be a bomb technicianand we all looked at that and said, "That wire's been cut." Eventually Doris lifted her arm sharply and the bomb went off prematurely, injuring Doris while David was out of the room. The Wyoming History one may be the best. You see the bag ladies pullin' them around behind them when they go to the store and they can put their groceries in or whatever else. I know that for a fact! These are designed to just spread out the particles all over the air. It's a little basket that has different layers on it. 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 . David became increasingly agitated, and decided to leave the room. Mark Junge: Do you think David or Doris would have cut it? It packed the brute force of twenty-five sticks of dynamite. David returned to the restroom and killed himself, ending the hostage crisis. Mark Junge: And what happened? A Project of the Wyoming Historical Society. They had to come and get my car and get me another one. Mark Junge: And your great-grandkids? Had a small pin-hole leak in it and it dripped into both containers and they both became paste. I had the chance to watch the pre-screening of the film and it was very emotional. But David refused to reveal his plans entirely until moments before they unfolded. Sue Castaneda: Carla said that some people were mad that we were there. Thank you for doing this! Well, you know how fine that dust is. 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. He was the father of two, but was estranged from his elder daughter. [13], Coordinates: .mw-parser-output .geo-default,.mw-parser-output .geo-dms,.mw-parser-output .geo-dec{display:inline}.mw-parser-output .geo-nondefault,.mw-parser-output .geo-multi-punct{display:none}.mw-parser-output .longitude,.mw-parser-output .latitude{white-space:nowrap}420457N 1105719W / 42.08250N 110.95528W / 42.08250; -110.95528. My name is Mark Junge and I'm here at the Hiltonis it the Hilton Hotel? I don't think that they were planningor David was planning on the ceiling tiles in the school. 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. The only thing I bristle at is that TC has me suggesting that we say a prayer. You went back home? She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. Because they weren't in a gun, the pressure wasn't chambered enough to where you could direct it. So I went to Huntsville, Ala., to Redstone Arsenal. Rich Haskell: Yes. Carbon County School District No. Personally I gave him 17 pages of journal notes! I said, "What on earth happened there?" 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. 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. 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. At that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. . I don't know how many people under the age of 35 know about the Chicago Tylenol murders, but for a few weeks in 1982, it was a national news sensation. Did this shake the faith of some people, or would you say it strengthened it in most? Both David and Doris had ties to white supremacist groups, including the Posse Comitatus and the Aryan Nations. Then he went to the restroom, which was attached to the classroom. Used with thanks. Carbon County School District No. In Cokeville, Nowhere, Wyo. So many of 'em thatI don't know. Now you are a bomb technician. Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. And knew what they could do? There's a piece of wood in there that separates the jaws of a clothespin and in that clothespin there are two metal connections that the wires were hooked to which made the electrical connection with the bomb. Rich Haskell: And fourteen and a half great-grandchildren. He did deliver our salvation that day. David was a diabetic. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Repanshek, Kurt J. I had just cracked a little joke with a toy tank of legos as I drove it "across the death line" or the masking tape square on the floor. 2 Recreation Board, Indigenous People in Wyoming and the West, http://news.google.com/newspapers/p/deseret_news?id=nz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4165,3587249&dq=cokeville+bombing&hl=en, http://archive.org/details/SurvivorIsMyName-VoicesOfTheCokevilleElementarySchoolBombing, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udNB_xdPiYE, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=mz1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6656,2193766&dq=cokeville+trying+to+rebuild&hl=en, http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=oD1TAAAAIBAJ&sjid=BYQDAAAAIBAJ&dq=cokeville&pg=7027%2C3851642, http://wyospcr.state.wy.us/MultiMedia/Display.aspx?ID=86&icon=1, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1928&dat=19870529&id=-AogAAAAIBAJ&sjid=c2UFAAAAIBAJ&pg=1067,6238243, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1499&dat=19870521&id=w4sfAAAAIBAJ&sjid=zH4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=4596,6209063, https://www.deseret.com/2006/5/15/19953524/cokeville-recollects-miracle-of-1986, http://www.denverpost.com/news/ci_18072820, http://trib.com/news/state-and-regional/article%E2%80%943077bf4a-a45e-5dad-ae3a-a99aa8fcf3aa.html, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19960515&id=Ke5LAAAAIBAJ&sjid=fuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=5227,9406392, http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=336&dat=19940404&id=GoQwAAAAIBAJ&sjid=iuwDAAAAIBAJ&pg=2778,1992787, http://www.deseretnews.com/article/705372484/Cokeville-miracle-marking-25-years.html, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qe_ZX4Qbsi4, Emergency Management Coordinator Kathy Davison on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, EMT Glenna Walker, Mother of Three Young Children, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Public Works Director and Fireman Kevin Walker, Father of Three Young Children, on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Lead Investigator Ron Hartley, Father of Four Student Survivors, on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Certified Bomb Technician Rich Haskell on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Secretary Tina Cook on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Second grade teacher Carol Petersen on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Rachel Walker Hollibaugh on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Third grade student Jamie Buckley King on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade teacher Kliss Sparks on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Fourth grade student LeaKae Roberts on the 1986 Bombing of Cokeville Elementary School, Law and Order in Cokeville: A Woman Mayor and Prohibition, Green River Historic Preservation Commission, Natrona County Board of Cooperative Educational Services, Natrona County Recreation Joint Powers Board, Sublette County Historical Preservation Board, University of Wyoming School of Energy Resources, A Projectile Killed Doris Young, Not Bomb Blast, Police in Cokeville Say., Castaneda, Sue and Mark Junge.

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