They believed in reincarnation, which probably led, in part, to the creation of Davids Brave New World idea. Rich Haskell: Were above the level of the kids, yeah. Audio/Video Recording. 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. 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. 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. [5], "You could see that the roof tiles had been lifted out of their brackets. It was not a teacher, but her ancestor. 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 have no doubt about my friends witness testimonies - even though I saw or heard nothing such as they did. So we decided to take some masking tape, and we tapedI think it was an eight-foot square in the middle of the room, right here, and he pushed the cart, the homemade bomb into this, and we told the children this was the magic square. There are some survivors that couldn't believe how accurate much of it was. Lenita's father Rocky was a fifth grade teacher at Cokeville Elementary School at the time of the bombing, Lenita was a seventh grader. With fear that David might become unhinged, the teachers decided to make an ~8-foot square of masking tape for his own personal space. But it still sent flames all over in the room and you can see where all the flames were in that room. Flipboard. David and Doris Young took 167 hostages (150 children, 17 adults and one unlucky UPS driver) at the elementary school. I was still trying to make sense of it all! After a two-and-a-half hour standoff, the children were becoming restless, so the teachers preoccupied the kids in the form of movies, games, prayer, and books. Mark Junge: You also mention in your written article in Witness to Miracles [See Note] , the book, that you found a briefcase and you had to open it remotely? And I'm sure that that made him very nervous. 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 . I absolutely have. The jug of gasoline had a pinhole-sized leak on its bottom. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Whether or not you believe in God or miracles, show some respect. According to survivor accounts, Doris enticed many into the first grade room by announcing that their presence was required for a school assembly. She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. And I didn't know about the angel thing comin' to the kids until many days later. There were plenty who opposed this from Cokeville, not a majority, maybe, but they were vocal and raw with feelings. On May 16, 1986, . Rich Haskell: I don't know the birthdates but I know the names. Of course, I can imagine the noise that it made. 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. Associated Press. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community; he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy." Below the jug in the bottom basket were two tuna fish cans filled with a mixture of aluminum powder and flour meant to aerosolize and deflagrate following detonation, each with its own blasting cap. For more information about our sponsors and the people behind WyoHistory.org, visit our About Us page: Hostage crisis at the elementary school in Cokeville, Wyo. I later learned he'd been shot in the back. I got a chance to talk to Jennie Sorensen Johnson, who was seven when David Young rolled a bomb into her first grade classroom. The first chapter is titled A Town of Trust.. SHARE Cokeville miracle marking 25 years. The Youngs both died that day. Mark Junge: Why do you think that God chose Cokeville to save? A compilation project by the Cokeville Miracle Foundation, a 501(c) (3) charity. Mark Junge: What do you want to do with the rest of your life? On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. In addition, national reporters began arriving within hours of the explosion. I knew fairly quickly that he would be the best chance we had at this. That much I know. The kids couldn't have cut it. AP file. Do you think this is a historical event? The device was set up on afor lack of a better word, I call it a shopping cart. Have you had anything like this, anything close to this happen? Edit: Also, were you at that early screening? "[6] The two men eventually refused to participate in the event. Yeah, we didn't get a lot of sleep. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. They feel that it was a positive experience for them. How did you determine how everything looked when this went up in smoke itself. On May 16, 1986, former town marshal David Young and his wife Doris Young took 167 children and adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School. Two Powell residents, Lenita Moore (a science teacher at Powell High School) and John Miller (a longtime choir director at Powell High School who retired in 2020), remember being in Cokeville during the bombing. From Tragedy To Triumph- Talking To A Cokeville Bombing Survivor. There was no give in the school bus. That's why I have a computer. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the communitys elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. David, who dared not risk their reporting him to the authorities, responded by holding them at gunpoint. What is the LDS population of the town and how big was your school? "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 . 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. Number one, that's where he worked. I contacted my sheriff, and that was Jim Stark at the time, and he said, "Definitely! Mark Junge: And you're sheriff in Sweetwater? 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. He used to work in Cokeville. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. I think you should know that it can be difficult to watch - but that it has a very rewarding outcome. And the bathroom was off to the side of it because it was the kindergarten class. 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." Mark Junge: In fact, didn't you say you burned up your engine? I was later told that everybody had been taken to different hospitals, ambulance services from all over, from Utah, from Idaho, from Wyoming was transporting people all over the place and there was only two fatalities. So we took the tiles off and went up into the ceiling and crawled up into the upper space up there and found a .45 slug up embedded into the iron girders up in the wall, and thought, okay, where did that come from? The blasting cap in the gasoline jug functioned properly, initiating the explosion. In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. David became increasingly agitated, and decided to leave the room. David and Doris both returned to Cokeville on May 16, 1986. Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. I guess I should say I am only speaking as a child, the adults were probably tense the entire time! We know he built two of 'em. All the hostages escaped, though 79 were hospitalized with burns and injuries. 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. 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. She is one of the survivors whose story has become a part of The Cokeville Miracle. 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. 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. 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. (Laughs) Yeah, I understand what you're saying, but it was. David Young. May 24, 1986 12 AM PT. (Laughs) But as I was passing through Kemmerer I stayed in radio contact. Encircled 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. I gathered up some of the equipment that I would need and a change of clothes and proceeded to Cokeville. I know there's angels. I do think the key is talking about it often and early. Angelic Intervention save all 153 in bomb blast - Cokeville Wyoming - Unexplained Mysteries - Angels Brain Boyle 2.05K subscribers Subscribe 928 158K views 11 years ago All 153 Children &. 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. P. O. Totally destroyed it! This sub is dedicated to faithful discourse on church topics. Were you portrayed in the movie at all? Healing will come Slowly From Within a Wounded Cokeville. 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. He had tried this deviceand they were designed tothat it would be a delayed explosion. Had a gallon milk jug full of gasoline on one level, had aluminum powder, flour and those two components was in tuna fish cans directly under the gasoline bomb. The two died after the bomb. When did Cokeville miracle happen? The children and adults escaped after the bomb exploded. I mean, Columbine, it wasn't that way. No need to troll. Wyoming State Parks and Cultural Resources, Repanshek, Kurt J. President Hinkley, President Monson, and President Faust. Story: Witness who ran toward marathon bomb 'saw bodies flying' "The death of any child shatters us all,'' Barnicle said. [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. If you are interested in seeing the film, theaters are listed here. Mark Junge: Which means you had to be doing over a hundred miles an hour! I went from within two feet of the bomb to right near the door within ten minutes before the bomb went off. I really did not even want to walk inside that building because I was just afraid that I'd see kids all over the place. Rich Haskell: Approximately an hour and ten, hour and fifteen minutes. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost.