9/11 Families - Fenruary 26, 1993 Attacks

February 26, 1993 Attacks
On February 26, 1993, a car bomb exploded in  the World Trade Center’s 
subterranean parking garage at 12:18 pm. The explosion killed six people, 
John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Steve Knapp, Monica Smith, William 
Macko and Wilfredo  Mercado. At least 1,040 others were injured.


Smoke rose to the 93rd floor of both Towers and cut off the emergency 
lighting system for the Towers. The nation was shocked by the attack.  
Mario Cuomo, governor of New York  at the time, was quoted as saying, 
“We all have that feeling of being violated…Until now we were 
invulnerable.” The BBC, unwittingly prophetic,  quoted Bruce Pomper, an 
eyewitness to the explosion, as saying, “It felt like  an airplane hit the 
building.


In May, 1994, four men – Mohammed Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud 
Abouhalima and Ahmad Ajaj – were each given life sentences for their roles 
in  the bombing. The next year, Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman was also 
sentenced to life  for masterminding the attack. Other arrests and convictions 
have followed,  though no one has been sentenced for the actual bombing 
itself.      


A memorial to the victims was erected directly above the site of the bomb. 
Sadly, this memorial did not survive the collapse of the Towers on  
September 11, 2001.
Tuesday, June 8, 2010

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