Mark Junge: They don't want it brought up again. [10][2][3] The injured were triaged to several area hospitals in Wyoming and Idaho.[2][3][11]. Mark Junge: And you're sheriff in Sweetwater? 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. I believe there was a hundred-and-sixty-plus people involved that was being held. I was literally blown out the door when the bomb went off , and i remember how time slowed down in those seconds. I don't know. As well as I can. 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. 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! My husband and I are looking forward to seeing the movie, as we weren't around when it happened and have just recently learned about it. 96 views, 2 likes, 0 loves, 0 comments, 2 shares, Facebook Watch Videos from J.Cano: Law & Order: SVU - Best Episode In the West? Totally destroyed it! I don't know what. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. David had also sent a copy of the manifesto to Reagan. David Young. Can you describe this? Sue Castaneda: Which is the son who is also running for sheriff? At 1:00 pm, they pulled up to the Cokeville Elementary School and unloaded a gasoline bomb, along with four rifles and nine handguns. Mark Junge: No? Story: Witness who ran toward marathon bomb 'saw bodies flying' "The death of any child shatters us all,'' Barnicle said. You have to think about what you're doing right at that particular time so you can stay focused on what you have to deal with. Rich Haskell: No. Even though the majority of the townspeople are LDS, there are lots of people of a variety of faiths in the room that day. Many recalled praying silently, forming prayer circles and seeing angels during the crisis. Anything? I mean, Columbine, it wasn't that way. In the meantime, David and Doris Young gathered children, teachers, staff and visitors in the elementary school into one central location. Everything was blackened. Journal entries also indicate that he saw opportunity in the close-knit community; he wrote, "Threaten one and all are at your mercy." "We could tell that he was becoming very nervous. Rich Haskell: Yeah. Recording and transcription by Wyoming State Archives. Over the course of time he did various things to get our input from script readings early on, to being there on set, etc. David became increasingly agitated, and decided to leave the room. WyoHistory.org welcomes the support of the following sponsors. Because they weren't in a gun, the pressure wasn't chambered enough to where you could direct it. At that time, about 500 people lived in Cokeville, and there were slightly more than 100 students attending the elementary school. Cokeville Miracle Marking 25 Years.. A new movie is coming out on Friday called "The Cokeville Miracle" that depicts not just this terrible event, but the various miraculous stories that emerged afterward. The tuna fish cans with the two floury would be spread out in the air likehave you ever seen a grain elevator explosion? This is not a Mormon film it is more of an inspirational film. 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. I gathered up some of the equipment that I would need and a change of clothes and proceeded to Cokeville. As long as that piece of wood was in there to keep those separated, it would not detonate. COKEVILLE, Wyo. On that Friday afternoon in their quiet, rural town, a deranged couple entered the community's elementary school, took those inside hostage and detonated a bomb in a first grade classroom. The couple corralled a large group of students and teachers into a single classroom. I do think the key is talking about it often and early. Wyoming has a lot of money as far as the state is concerned. No. And then what? How has that experience shaped your life? Yeah. What did you find out about them? Mark Junge: Okay. Rich Haskell: Yes, absolutely. Encircled it. He came out of the bathroom, is what we figured. They messed with the kids and that brought a whole communityin fact, it brought the whole western half of the state all together. And we allthere was three of us there. 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 . What stands out in your mind the most, looking back? When they asked pointed questions like "what did the angels look like?" Some of them believed the assembly was about weapons; others began realizing something was seriously wrong. Students, teachers, visitors, staff who survived the ordeal and bystanders began recounting their memories of this event as it was still unfolding. Rich Haskell: I don't think that they were planningor David was planning on the ceiling tiles in the school. I'm not saying all of 'em were bombs, but why did God cut out Cokeville and say nobody's going to get hurt in this? She acknowledges these students for assisting her in researching her contributions to the WyoHistory.org web site. If I deleted an entire phrase, I have inserted ellipses . As I got closer to it I could tell it was a body, and of course, you just start thinking about what took place. Mark Junge: We were worried, Sue and I, that people would take offence, right? Educated at Chadron State College in Nebraska, he had earned a degree in criminal justice, and was hired as Cokevilles town marshal in the 1970s. 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 Cokeville Town Hall is located at 110 Pine St. For more information, visit the website of the Cokeville Chamber of Commerce at http://www.cokevillewy.com or call (307) 459-4195. #TodayInHistory: Today in 1986, The Cokeville Elementary School crises happened. You went back home? In addition, national reporters began arriving within hours of the explosion. It was cut. 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. Which is hard to believe, but a positive experience in that they learned something. To my right is Sue Castaneda who is the Wyoming Oral History Project Director, and across the table from me is Rich Haskell, who is a certified bomb technician. I don't know. In a May 16, 1986 photo, the body of Doris Young is removed by officials after the Cokeville Elementary hostage situation in Cokeville, Wyo. By the people that was the bad folks, they're the only ones that got really hurt. And what happens if they trigger something accidently?" Had a small pin-hole leak in it and it dripped into both containers and they both became paste. He had been aware of above-average achievement scores from Cokeville's education system. Rich Haskell: And fourteen and a half great-grandchildren. He instructed Doris and Princess, by now a young adult, to handcuff them inside his van. "[6] The two men eventually refused to participate in the event. Rich Haskell: Approximately three and a half days. Rich Haskell: Pretty sophisticated guy is what he was. Too many of 'em to try to remember their birthdays. I didn't look at the speedometer, I was just kind of watchin' for animals and everything else. David emerged from the bathroom to find his wife in excruciating pain. who wins student body president riverdale. He had just big rings of perspiration. May 24, 1986 12 AM PT. Mark Junge: Yeah, my brother-in-law worked in the Navy as a chief petty officer and he worked with what they called EOD. That's my lucky miracle. And I think it's made me a stronger person. Nobody come inside this circle." The circuit was powered by a 9-volt lantern battery. It's a little basket that has different layers on 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. They believed in reincarnation, which probably led, in part, to the creation of Davids Brave New World idea. She fled the building and drove the Youngs vanwith Deppe and Mendenhall still insideto the town hall, where she reported her fathers plan. 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. TC, I think, saw it the same way. Read more Contact us at editor@wyohistory.org for information on levels and types of available sponsorships. 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. Have you seen the Unsolved Mysteries episode that had a segment on this? Mark Junge: Do you still think about this? Rich Haskell: I don't know. Rich Haskell: You walk into the door, and I don't know if you got to go into the classroom, but you walk into that door and it opens up into the whole thing. Mark Junge: That's a mighty powerful gun! [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. The Cokeville Elementary School hostage crisis occurred on May 16, 1986, in Cokeville, Wyoming, United States, when former town marshal David Young 44, and his wife Doris Young 47, took 136 children and 18 adults hostage at Cokeville Elementary School . 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." Sue Castaneda: Did you look at (unintelligible). 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. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a couple with a bomb. The first chapter is titled A Town of Trust.. 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." 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. They learned to trust in their God, the kids were healed for the most part, and they value life more now. First grade teacher Janel Dayton on the 1986 bombing of Cokeville Elementary School Published: November 8, 2014 Janel Dayton, Wyoming State Archives photo. By Deseret News. People who had guns! SHARE Cokeville recollects 'miracle' of 1986. Lota, Louinn. And that's what we in this country have that these other fanatics or whatever is the family is the import factor. Of course, I can imagine the noise that it made. The blasting cap in the gasoline jug functioned properly, initiating the explosion. Used with thanks. She was a total torch! I think he went in the Marine Corps because of me and served 25 years and retired. It became a story of a miracle rather than a tragedy. Where you find brackets [ ] I have added words for explanation or to complete an awkward sentence. I absolutely have. On May 16, 1986, a man and his wife with a bomb took . Mark Junge: Where at? 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. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. Is that morbid thinking on my part? You HAVE to find the positives or the negatives can eat you up the rest of your life. I don't know ifI just felt an emptyactually I could just see a hundred-sixty people dead! By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. Several other survivors were there. David, who dared not risk their reporting him to the authorities, responded by holding them at gunpoint. How did you determine how everything looked when this went up in smoke itself. I mean, we're talking about from kindergarten kids up to 10-, 11-, 12-years old. 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. Cokeville had so little crime that many folks didn't bother to lock their doors. Excerpt from the book "On This Day In Wyoming History": David young Mark Junge: Well, and it burned some of the kids. David was a diabetic. This wasn't a simple bomb. Rich Haskell: Absolutely. What should people know going into the film? Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. They increasingly spoke about their memories in public with professional psychologists, church officials and community counselors. It would have killed them. All the kids were saved. Others miracles were reported and some of those are recorded in this compilation.." Rich Haskell: No, it's not. I was, and I still am, a certified bomb technician at the time, and I was, as far as I know, the only bomb technician in the southern half of the state of Wyoming. But it didn't. When I looked up to see if David had heard me (which he had, and scowled down at me) I noticed that the florescent white light overhead was not white, but a yellow hazy light. Many children showed signs of distress with sobs, complaining of headaches from the smell of gasoline from the bomb, or simply wanting to go home. But shortly after entering the school, Princess decided to rebel. Witnesses later testified that just before the explosion David Young had connected the explosive to his wife. I later learned he'd been shot in the back. On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. I wondered what that was, but then immediately noticed my friends over by the door talking to Doris. She's an avid genealogist, so maybe get involved with that, and maybe go on a mission for the church. Rich Haskell: Well, I like to think I'm a better person because of it. Seven people in the Chicago area died after ingesting Tylenol capsules laced with potassium cyanide. Mark Junge: EOD. Vengeance for having been fired did not seem to have been the motive, but rather a philosophy recorded in journal entries referring to a Brave New World where he wanted to reign over intelligent children. AP file. I did see the lighting had changed in the room, and it was right in the same timeline as everyone else's witness. 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. I was still trying to make sense of it all! 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. Create an account to follow your favorite communities and start taking part in conversations. . According to survivor accounts, Doris enticed many into the first grade room by announcing that their presence was required for a school assembly. Mark Junge: Do you think David or Doris would have cut it? Family is the most important thing in a Mormon family. Amy Bagaso Williams with her husband and four children. results in the deaths of perpetrators David and Doris Young; 154 hostages survive. Rich Haskell: It's a combustible. 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? So I went to Huntsville, Ala., to Redstone Arsenal. I've got to get back to work now! [6] With permission, the teachers brought in books, art supplies and a television to help keep the children occupied. You'd had experience? 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. 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. Mark Junge: Well, what do you think would cause two people like this to do this? . Mark Junge: Are you one of the most experienced people in the area? . After being fired for misconduct, he moved to Tucson, Arizona, where he married Doris Young. Also, what do you want us to know about it that isn't covered in the film? 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. One of the miracles that day was that not a single person was lost. 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. She has published several articles in peer-reviewed journals on the history and heritage of Germans from Russia on the Northern Plains. Mark Junge: With bombs? I'm portrayed as the little red haired kid with glasses that asks about the AK-47. And it burned some children. She tied the string around her wrist. You can ask me anything about this today between 1-2pm. Mark Junge: But all of these holes were above the level of the children. the children began describing things more specifically and that is when the mom was prompted to find the photograph of their grandmother. 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.". Sept. 21, 2010. The Cokeville Elementary School was the site of a horrific hostage situation on May 16, 1986 when David and Dorris Young took a homemade bomb inside the school. During my years here in Wyoming I have refereed both basketball and football on the high school and the junior high school level, and I was watching the ball game at that time. Because in the bus, everything was solid in the school bus. I actually have a pretty clear memory of the events that day, being 12 years old. Rich Haskell: Yeah, I think I did. Here is a local story from the 20 year anniversary (we are at the 29th year now), What's your side of the story? Did this shake the faith of some people, or would you say it strengthened it in most? ", All told, 79 of the hostages suffered injuries, mostly second-degree burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries from the exploding bomb. Mark Junge: Do you know the names and birthdates of all your grandchildren? The Power of Faith: 25 Years After School Bombing, Town Remembers Story of Survival., Mitchell, Ruth Ann. The gasoline bottle was leaking. They lived in a mobile home with Princess, Davids youngest daughter from his first marriage. What had happenedI can't explain it. On May 16, 1986, an elementary school in the tiny town of Cokeville, Wyoming, was held hostage by a married couple with a bomb. Only the man and his wife, who accidentally detonated the bomb, died that day in 1986. Cokeville Elementary School is located at 205 N. Sage St. in Cokeville. Rich Haskell: Oh my goodness! It just embedded into the walls from the ammunition from the heat. Rich Haskell: Yes, there was a briefcase in the hallway, and we were toldbefore I had gotten there they had gotten papers from his daughter. [5] The wooden piece was tied to Doris' wrist by a string. 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. Well, he had went into the bathroom and she was out with the bomb, and they said she was complaining of a migraine headache. That's what David Young forgot to realize just how important families were. Cokeville Bombing. Undated scrapbook. It brings back lots of memories but it doesn't hurt because actually it was a positive experience. They were sitting out across the fence with scopes on their rifles just ready to shoot until the sheriff went out and said, "No. Two of the three blasting caps on the bomb failed to detonate; the wires to each tuna can had been reportedly cut. It was not a teacher, but her ancestor. I went from within two feet of the bomb to right near the door within ten minutes before the bomb went off.
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