David went to the school office, handing out a manifesto titled "ZERO EQUALS INFINITY" and announcing "This is a revolution!" Cokeville Miracle Marking 25 Years.. Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. So if it can happen there it can happen anywhere in the United States. Mark Junge: That's a record of all the people we've talked to! Excerpt from the book "On This Day In Wyoming History": David young No. Is that morbid thinking on my part? Can you describe this? It was there for a long time, all that support. Lenita's father Rocky was a fifth grade teacher at Cokeville Elementary School at the time of the bombing, Lenita was a seventh grader. The two died after the bomb. There are several great resources out there. I don't know what. 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. [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. Dozens. Mark Junge: Okay. I'm proud of all my children. Now you are a bomb technician. The explosion engulfed her in flames and burned many nearby children. I have no doubt about my friends witness testimonies - even though I saw or heard nothing such as they did. You should also know that TC basically just wove a storyline into and between the facts and witness testimonies. David Young entered the school with his wife transporting a large gasoline-filled device that appeared to be a bomb. Others miracles were reported and some of those are recorded in this compilation.." Mark Junge: What do you want to do with the rest of your life? Used with permission and thanks. My name is Mark Junge and I'm here at the Hiltonis it the Hilton Hotel? You HAVE to find the positives or the negatives can eat you up the rest of your life. Mark Junge: Well, and it burned some of the kids. There are some survivors that couldn't believe how accurate much of it was. Have there been any lingering psychological effects from going through something so traumatic while so young? They have a lot of first-person histories of the actual event, teachers, investigators and students. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. Rich Haskell: Yeah, there was some people ready to just shoot him right where he was sitting. I think you should know that it can be difficult to watch - but that it has a very rewarding outcome. She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. Throughout the standoff, David grew increasingly agitated and irritable. 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. There was nobody killed but the perpetrators. Rich Haskell: Well, I did learn later that the kids saw the angels. The hostage takers took part in the singing. When the children became increasingly loud, Doris Young began begging the teachers to settle the group down. They're the ones that died from the whole thing. This can, the aluminum powder, never went off. Young was a former Cokeville town marshal who had been living in Arizona for several years. Kind of a synopsis of what they were going to do and what their plans were and the whole thing. Mark Junge: You think when we talk to you to bring this up againI know you're emotional about itbut does it hurt you to talk about this? Where's he running? Rich Haskell: I think it could be a spiritual experience that I have with church, or being around the kids, I don't know. Mark Junge: How many actual bombs have you had experience with? At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. Meanwhile, police and parents gathered out of sight of the school room where hostages were gathered. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" Audio/Video Recording. I guess I should say I am only speaking as a child, the adults were probably tense the entire time! Totally destroyed it! 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 in ransom. Ahntastic Adventures in Silicon Valley 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. Flipboard. Mark Junge: That's a mighty powerful gun! On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. Many of the children who stated they saw angels were of various faiths. 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 Trying to Rebuild A Normal and Secure Life.. Rich Haskell: Well, I got a lot of it while I was in the Marine Corps and in the Army National Guard. "If you can see the bomb, the bomb can see you," an officer shouted. 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. Mark Junge: They weren't big enough, in a way. and detonated a bomb inside. TC, I think, saw it the same way. I received a telephone call from my dispatcher informing me that an incident had taken place up in Cokeville and they were requesting me to drive to Cokeville for assistance. Rich Haskell: There was a reason I was there for some reason. 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. Also, what do you want us to know about it that isn't covered in the film? It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. That dead-man switch is a piece of string that goes around your wrist and it's hooked into a clothespin, the other end of it. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. Rich Haskell: That's my oldest boy, Steven. 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. 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. I didn't look at the speedometer, I was just kind of watchin' for animals and everything else. Returning, David Young shot his wife, then himself. 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. After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he married Doris Young. In 1986, 154 children and teachers survived the bombing of Cokeville Elementary School. Mark Junge: Are you one of the most experienced people in the area? (Laughs) But as I was passing through Kemmerer I stayed in radio contact. David, who dared not risk their reporting him to the authorities, responded by holding them at gunpoint. Did this shake the faith of some people, or would you say it strengthened it in most? Shortly after their wedding, David and Doris left Cokeville and headed to Tucson, Ariz. During their time in Tucson, according to Doris daughter Bernie Petersen, David became increasingly reclusive, focusing on his philosophical readings and writings. Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. How did it affect your family long-term? You can see what's happening in the world today. 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. When I looked at everyone looking at me (as if I should call on someone to say it) I realized I should call on Allyson Cornia - literally because she was the smartest kid in the class! It was a great movie, very well directed and acted. Mark Junge: Well, yes. Cokeville Bombing. Undated scrapbook. 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. [5] The wooden piece was tied to Doris' wrist by a string. Carbon County School District No. 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. In addition, national reporters began arriving within hours of the explosion. The jug of gasoline had a pinhole-sized leak on its bottom. Rich Haskell: Okay, I'll buy that! I have given that some thought. So if the state didn't pay him, he figured the Mormon church would pay him because the Mormon church has money also. Chalkboards andwhat do they call those?whiteboards, I think they are, along the walls. Rich Haskell: No, it's not. Dr. Clark is the faculty advisor of the Sweet Memories: Research Group at Western. When the thing went off, when the bomb exploded, they just started chuckin' people out the windows. I know there's angels. Lota, Louinn. This is not a Mormon film it is more of an inspirational film. The tuna fish cans with the two floury would be spread out in the air likehave you ever seen a grain elevator explosion? Im living proof.. There are a select number of people that would do this, so thank you. Rich Haskell: Yeah, I think I did. 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. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. You know, the kids have forgot about it, let's let 'em move on. Because it was sittin' low enough and the kids were low enough that it would have done it. I was still trying to make sense of it all! Mark Junge: Well, I want you to know that we think you're courageous for doing this with us. "[6] The two men eventually refused to participate in the event. The gasoline bottle was leaking. Mark Junge: Curious, Rich. In the days and weeks immediately after this event, most accounts focused on the horrors of the day. Rich Haskell: Yes. Rich Haskell: Yeah. 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 . But everything was black, like you had gone in there with a flamethrower and just torched everything inside there.