April 24, 1995: Timber Lobbyist Killed by ‘Unabomber’ Device

Gilbert Murray. [Source: Washington Post]A timber industry lobbyist, Gilbert Murray, is killed when a parcel explodes at his Sacramento, California, office. The package is addressed to William Dennison, whom Murray replaced as president of the California Forestry Association. [BBC, 11/12/1987; New York Times, 4/8/1996; Washington Post, 4/14/1996; Washington Post, 1998] The explosion is so powerful that it shatters windows in Murray’s office. Witnesses describe the package as wrapped in brown paper and about the size of a shoebox. CFA official Donn Zea says he suspects environmental extremists are behind the attack. “In my personal opinion, this is the work of extreme environmentalists, not linked to” the Oklahoma City bombing (see 8:35 a.m. - 9:02 a.m. April 19, 1995), he says. He does acknowledge that it is possible someone might have confused his organization with a government agency, something he says frequently occurs. Earth First! activist Judi Bari, who was injured in a car bombing in Oakland in 1990, says her group had nothing to do with the blast. “Having been the recipient of that kind of terror, I can’t imagine anybody doing that to another human being,” she tells a reporter. “We firmly embrace non-violence, and we wouldn’t consider doing anything of the kind.” [Associated Press, 4/25/1995] The bombing will later be shown to be the work of Theodore “Ted” Kaczynski, the so-called “Unabomber” (see April 3, 1996). In 1987, Kaczynski killed a Sacramento computer shop owner (see December 11, 1985). Both Murray and Dennison have ties to the University of California at Berkeley, where Kaczynski taught mathematics; Murray graduated from the university in 1975, and Dennison, a 1959 graduate from the school, lectured there between 1971 and 1988. It is not known if these ties drove Kaczynski to target either Dennison or Murray. [Washington Post, 4/14/1996]