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A new — is being released in conjunction with the 30th anniversary of the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building.

Premiering April 18, the documentary provides a chronological account of the chaos, shock and acts of courage that unfolded in the wake of the deadly attack while also delving into the investigation that found Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols to be responsible.

Greg Tillman, who directed “Oklahoma City Bombing: American Terror,� took part in an interview with the Tulsa World in advance of the release.

The documentary sprang from the Waco story

The 2023 Netflix docuseries “Waco: American Apocalypse� led Tillman to take on a documentary about the Oklahoma City bombing.

Tillman said Netflix liked the docuseries, which was about the 1993 siege of the Branch Davidian compound, and suggested that the creative team make a documentary about the Oklahoma City bombing. Tillman was a producer on the Waco docuseries, which was directed by friend and collaborator Tiller Russell. Because Russell was busy with other obligations, he recommended that Tillman direct the Oklahoma City bombing documentary.

The Oklahoma City bombing occurred on the two-year anniversary of the Waco fire and more than 70 deaths that ended the Waco siege. What transpired in Waco influenced McVeigh’s actions in Oklahoma City.

“I think he also had a lot of other grievances,� Tillman said, indicating that McVeigh was inspired by a book (“The Turner Diaries�) that describes the bombing of an FBI building in almost exactly the same fashion in which McVeigh blew up the Murrah Building.

Tillman described Waco as a low point for the FBI in that the FBI (“and they’ll admit this�) wasn’t prepared to deal with a 51-day siege against someone who was armed to the teeth and was willing to die and take others with him. He followed by saying the FBI’s reaction to the Oklahoma City bombing “was really kind of their finest moment.�

“The way the FBI is set up with agents all across the country and counties in every state, they were uniquely prepared to deal with the aftermath of this thing,� Tillman said.

Tillman said there were agents all around the country who wanted to jump in and help. “And the guys at the top were like, ‘Look, just stay where you are, and we’ll give you a call if we need you.’� After it was determined that the truck McVeigh rented had been acquired in Junction City, Kansas, one of the men who got a call was Kansas-based Agent Scott Crabtree.

“All of a sudden, this guy is at the heart of this thing,� Tillman said. “And so I think it’s interesting that from their worst moment came their best moment.�

A wide net was cast for interview subjects

From the outside looking in, it seems that Tillman picked ideal interview subjects. Tillman said a lot of it was luck, but he credited an amazing team for making phone calls and casting a wide net — “and one person leads to another person leads to another person.�

What Tillman wanted was a collection of people who could carry the narrative of the film from the moment the bomb went off until McVeigh was brought to justice.

“We were looking for the person who was sort of at the heart of the story, wherever it was really happening in the moment,� Tillman said. “And hopefully those people would come back into the story once or twice so that we didn’t just kind of lose them.�

Among interview subjects: Amy Downs, who was buried alive in rubble; Renee Moore, whose child was in day care at the Murrah Building; Bob Ricks, FBI special agent; and Charlie Hanger, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who serendipitously stopped McVeigh for driving without a license plate.

McVeigh’s voice is heard in the documentary. Lou Michel and Dan Herbeck of the Buffalo News recorded 75 hours of interviews with McVeigh after his capture. The interviews became source material for the 2001 book “American Terrorist: Timothy McVeigh & the Oklahoma City Bombing.�

“Most of that stuff has never been heard before, so we had access to all of that for our show,� Tillman said.

Without thinking, people reacted and became heroes

Tillman, asked what “struck� him while making the documentary, said this: “What I didn’t know about — until I went there and just kept talking to people about what had happened — was it’s amazing how many people don’t know how well they’re going to do in a tragedy until it happens.�

In this instance, said Tillman, there were so many stories of people who, without thinking about it, became heroes.

“Instead of running away from the building, they ran right at it,� he said. “I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was surprised by the stories. I was impressed and amazed, and it kind of just warmed my heart to keep hearing them, to know that in the face of this kind of absolute horror, there were so many moments of kindness and generosity that happened as a result.

“I think some people might have gone their whole life and never known they had that in them except for this day.�

Dr. Carl Spengler, who had wrapped up an overnight shift and was eating breakfast nearby when the bombing occurred, rushed to the scene so he could help. Spengler is an interview subject in the documentary.

Another thing Tillman found interesting was that the initial reaction to the bombing, across the board, was that it was presumed to be the work of international terrorists. He said it was a real challenge to news and law enforcement to break through preconceptions and face the reality that the perpetrator was homegrown.

“Not only that, he was in the military,� Tillman said. “He’s one of us. This guy was trained by the U.S. Army.�

‘What happens when hatred and divisiveness is unchecked’

It was important to make the documentary for a lot of reasons, according to Tillman.

“We’re kind of in a critical moment, I think, in kind of the history of our country and even the world,� he said. “I don’t want to get too overblown, but I think it’s important to remind people what happens when hatred and divisiveness is unchecked.

“When someone just lets their absolute worst impulses go as far as they can possibly go, this is what you get. And if this is how we’re all settling our differences, then I don’t know that we have much longer to live,� Tillman continued. “I think it’s important to show people that no matter how righteous you think your ideas and your movement are, are you really ready and willing to kill 19 little kids? Is that a way to settle that difference?�

This message appears at the end of the film: 168 people, including 19 children, died on April 19, 1995, in Oklahoma City. This film is dedicated to them, to all the people who tried to save them and to all the friends and family who miss them.

Tillman said the bombing affected so many people and rippled through so many friends and families that there’s no way to tell all those things.

“You just have to pick the few that you can find that give you a sense of that story and then wait for someone else to come along and tell it again — and they will,� he said.

“They will keep telling the story because it’s important. And it’s interesting — even the people that we talked to in the process of making the story, we are learning things. Even 30 years later, someone would tell me something in an interview and then I would share that with someone else in the next interview, and they’d be surprised. I think it’s important to kind of just keep doing that.�