Area Near Bomb Site Evacuated

OKLAHOMA CITY — Buildings near the Oklahoma City National Memorial were evacuated Wednesday morning while police examined a pickup truck with a bumper sticker mentioning the government raid near Waco, Texas.

The driver, Amo Roden, 58, was questioned for about two hours before being released. She said she was a Branch Davidian member but didn’t realize Wednesday was the day Oklahoma City bomber Timothy J. McVeigh had been scheduled to be executed. The execution has been postponed until June 11.

Roden, who said she believes the government bombed the federal building, said she was weeping near a chain-link fence covered with mementos of the 168 people killed when police began questioning her.

The gray pickup had a sticker that said “Waco, Texas, and Oklahoma City are where the one world government shot itself in the foot.”

McVeigh has said the government raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco in April 1993 was one of the reasons he bombed the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building two years later. Roden said she was a Davidian member but did not consider herself a follower of David Koresh, the sect leader who died along with about 80 others at Waco.

Police evacuated a nearby post office and offices at the memorial for about 2 1/2 hours before letting people return to their buildings. Two streets were also blocked off.