For nearly two decades, Alan Reiss has served as the liaison between the Port Authority and its memorial foundation. As the director of the original World Trade Center on 9/11 and of World Trade Center Construction for the past 10 years, he’s considered an expert on the space and serves as "on-call historian" for the 9/11 Museum. Having survived both 9/11 and the February 26, 1993 bombing, he has made it his mission to continue supporting the families of the victims and ensure we never forget these horrific events.

With the 30th anniversary of the 1993 bombing upon us, we sat down with Alan to hear his story and his perspective on the impact that first attack had on New York City, the World Trade Center, and his own life.

This afternoon, we gathered at the Memorial for a ceremony commemorating the 29th anniversary of the 1993 attack on the World Trade Center. Family members, survivors, downtown residents, and Memorial staff left tributes at the North Pool parapet N-73, where the names of the six victims killed on February 26, 1993 are engraved.

Gil Ramos, Port Authority police officer, performed the national anthem. A moment of silence followed the ceremonial bell tolling by the FDNY at 12:18 pm, the time of the bombing. Nicole and Stephen Rossilli, the grandchildren of Stephen Knapp, and Andrew Colabella, a cousin of John DiGiovanni, then read the names of the victims: DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, and Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child. The FDNY, NYPD, and PAPD Pipe and Drums concluded the ceremony with "Amazing Grace." 

More than 1,000 people — including 88 firefighters, 35 police officers, and an EMS worker — were injured in the 1993 attack; nearly 50,000 were evacuated from the World Trade Center. Learn more here. 

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum held an intimate, socially distanced ceremony to commemorate the 28th anniversary of the first attack on the World Trade Center in 1993.

Family members and Memorial staff gathered and left tributes at the North Pool parapet N-73, where the names of the six victims of the attack are engraved on the 9/11 Memorial.

A moment of silence was held at 12:18 p.m., the time of the attack, and the names of the victims were read aloud: Monica Rodriguez Smith and her unborn child, Wilfredo Mercado, William Macko, Stephen Knapp, Robert Kirkpatrick, and John DiGiovanni.

Learn more about the attacks and the lives of the victims.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

The February 26, 1993 attack on the World Trade Center forced the evacuation of more than 40,000 people on a cold, snowy New York City afternoon.

Walter Philip Travers, a bond broker at Cantor Fitzgerald, spent more than five hours in a dark, smoke-filled stairwell while he made his slow descent from his office on the 104th floor of the North Tower.

The bomb, which had been detonated in the B-2 level of the parking garage below the World Trade Center and had killed six people, caused rolling power failures in the towers. Travers was among those who formed a human chain to help navigate the crowded, dark stairwell.

"You had to keep your hand on the shoulder of the person in front of you and just rely on them to tell you that they hit a platform because there would be two flights to every floor. It was a zigzag stairwell," recalls Robert Small, a Dean Whitter employee who also evacuated that day.

Those who were unable to make the descent to safety were airlifted out. The evacuation would later result in the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey installing fluorescent paint on the handrails and emergency lighting in the stairwells. 

More than 1,000 people were injured on February 26, 1993, most suffering from smoke inhalation. When Travers finally returned home that cold February evening, exhausted, he shed his raincoat and clothing and shoved them in the back of the closet. The raincoat was dry-cleaned, but the white button-down shirt that had turned gray after hours of smoke exposure was forgotten.

It was not until eight years later when his wife, Rosemary Travers, was clearing out her husband’s belongings from their closet after his death that the shirt was found. On September 11, 2001, the hijacked Flight 11 severed all options for egress when it crashed into the North Tower. Walter Travers was among those trapped on the upper levels of that tower. He was 44 years old.

Travers’ shirt was one of the earliest donations to the 9/11 Memorial Museum’s collection. This item and other artifacts found Inside the Collection tell the story of the first attack on the World Trade Center.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

On February 26, 1993, a van loaded with a 1,200-pound urea nitrate bomb headed for downtown Manhattan. The destination was the World Trade Center, and the mission was to destroy the Twin Towers. The group of terrorists led by Ramzi Yousef drove their bomb-filled vehicle into the public parking garage below the towers. They parked on the B-2 level of the garage, lit the bomb’s fuse, and escaped in a getaway car.

At 12:18 p.m. on that cold day in February, the bomb detonated. The explosion left a hole 150 feet wide and several stories deep underneath the North Tower. People on the top floors of the towers and in surrounding buildings could feel the force of the explosion. While the terrorists’ mission to destroy the towers failed, six people were killed in the attack, and thousands were injured.

Within minutes of the bombing, Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) investigators suspected an act of terrorism. Two days after the attack, investigators recovered several vehicle fragments from the parking garage of the World Trade Center site. Unlike the other fragments they found, these pieces indicated that they were from a vehicle that had exploded outward. Two of these pieces included a vehicle identification number (VIN), a unique code given to every car and truck sold in the United States. The vehicle, a Ryder van, was traced by the FBI to a rental agency in Jersey City, New Jersey, and from this bit of information, the investigators learned the name of the man who rented the van, Mohammed Salameh. Seeking a refund for his $400 deposit, Salameh had reported it stolen on the afternoon of February 26.

That evening of the attack, two of the bombers, Rami Yousef and Eyad Ismoil, fled the country using fake passports and left their other conspirators behind.

Working with the rental-office personnel, Salameh was arrested on March 4, 1993. The FBI searched his apartment and the information obtained led to the arrests of three co-conspirators: Ahmad Ajaj, Nidal Ayyad, and Mahmoud Abouhalima. The FBI also interviewed another suspect, Abdul Yasin, before releasing him due to a lack of evidence. Yasin fled to Jordan; he was later indicted but still has not been captured.

On March 5, after receiving a tip from an employee, the FBI searched a self-storage unit in Jersey City. Agents discovered chemicals that could be used to manufacture explosives, including urea, nitric acid, and sulfuric acid. The chemicals matched evidence from the World Trade Center bombing site. That same day, The New York Times received a letter taking responsibility for the bombing on behalf of a group calling itself the Liberation Army, Fifth Battalion. After Nidal Ayyad, one of the conspirators, was arrested on March 10, the FBI matched his DNA to traces of saliva found on the letter’s envelope. An FBI specialist later recovered a document from Ayyad’s work computer that referenced the letter received by The New York Times.

Seven months later, following the reopening of the Twin Towers and Ramzi Yousef’s addition to the FBI’s Most Wanted List on April 21, 1993, the United States began its trial against the four perpetrators of the World Trade Center bombing in custody. More than 200 witnesses were called to testify during the trial, which took place before Judge Kevin T. Duffy in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

The trial concluded on March 4, 1994. The four defendants were found guilty on all counts. On May 24, 1994, Judge Duffy sentenced each of them to 240 years in prison, factoring in the combined life expectancies of the six people killed in the bombing.

Ramzi Yousef remained at large until he was captured in Pakistan on February 5, 1995, for planting a bomb on Philippine Airlines Flight 434, which killed one passenger and injured 10 others. He was extradited Yousef to New York. When the helicopter transporting Yousef flew past the World Trade Center on February 8, 1995, an FBI agent reminded Yousef that the towers were still standing. Yousef responded that “they would not be if [he] had had enough money.”

Yousef entered a plea of not guilty as he faced two separate trials: one for his involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center attack and another for the Bojinka plot. The jury found Yousef and Eyad Ismoil guilty for their involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. Another jury found Ramzi Yousef and his co-conspirators, Abdul Hakim Murad and Wali Khan Amin Shah, guilty of conspiracy for the Bojinka plot. On January 8, 1998, Judge Duffy sentenced Yousef in both trials to life in prison plus 240 years, factoring in the combined life expectancies of the six people killed in the 1993 bombing.

Five of the six convicted World Trade Center bombers are still serving their sentences at a maximum-security prison in Colorado, while the sixth, Nidal Ayyad, serves in Indiana. The U.S. government considers the bombing an open case because the seventh alleged conspirator, Abdul Yasin, who fled the United States in March 1993, remains at large.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

As we prepare to mark the 28th anniversary of the first attack on the World Trade Center that took place on February 26, 1993, with a commemorative ceremony and a virtual tour, we take a moment to remember the six people killed in the first terror attack on the Twin Towers. Learn more about the 1993 bombing at the World Trade Center on our 1993 Commemoration page and timeline of the attack. 

We also invite you to join us at 2 p.m. for a free Zoom tour through the Museum’s key spaces This 60-minute program provides a deeper understanding of 9/11 and the 1993 bombing, the lead-up to the attacks, and their continuing global significance. Please RSVP to reserve your spot on the virtual tour. Space is limited and reservations are required. 

Monica Rodriquez Smith

Born in Manta, Ecuador, Monica Rodriquez Smith lived in Seaford, Long Island, with her husband, Edward. She was pregnant with their first child and had recently renovated their home and set up the baby’s room. Monica worked at the World Trade Center as a mechanical unit secretary for the Port Authority. She loved her job and even met her husband there when he made a sales call to her office. Edward pursued her for two years before she agreed to a date.

Monica had immigrated to the United States with her parents and four brothers. “My wife was the embodiment of the American Dream,” said Smith in a tribute to his wife. He remembers her as “a vivacious, outgoing person who was full of energy. She was the life of the party. At the same time, she was a natural mom to the people around her.”

On February 26, 1993, her last day of work before maternity leave, she was having lunch in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. She was 35 years old.

Robert Kirkpatrick

Skilled in carpentry, plumbing, and locksmithing, Robert Kirkpatrick worked for the Port Authority as a senior structural maintenance supervisor. Robert lived in Suffern, New York, with his wife, Evelyn. He spoke of retiring in November 1993. On February 26 of that year, Robert was in the World Trade Center basement on his lunch break when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 61 years old.

John DiGiovanni

Born in Brooklyn, John DiGiovanni lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, with his mother. Known for his meticulousness, John detailed his car with a toothbrush. He worked as an East Coast sales manager for Kerr Chemicals.

Heading to a sales call on February 26, 1993, John pulled his car into the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage just before a bomb was detonated there. He was 45 years old.

A memorial fountain was built directly above the blast site on the World Trade Center’s Austin J. Tobin Plaza, which opened to the public two years after the attack on February 23. Inscribed on the 30-foot granite memorial were the names of the six victims. The fountain was destroyed on September 11, 2001, and only a single fragment of the 1993 memorial was recovered from the rubble. It bears part of John’s name.

William Mercado

Born in Lima, Peru, Wilfredo Mercado lived in East New York, Brooklyn, with his wife, Olga, and their two daughters. Wilfredo worked two jobs at the World Trade Center: weekdays as Windows on the World’s purchasing agent and weekends as a security guard. On February 26, 1993, he was receiving food deliveries in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. Wilfredo was 37 years old.

Stephen Knapp

Stephen Knapp lived with his wife, Louise, and their two children on Staten Island, where he was born. Stephen worked at the World Trade Center since its opening and was the Port Authority’s chief maintenance supervisor.

A man who didn't need a lot to make him happy, Stephen enjoyed spending time with family and friends, fishing on his boat, and going to the racetrack or a ballgame. He enjoyed playing with his kids and their friends, and he would often be having just as good a time as the young ones.

On February 26, 1993, Stephen was on his lunch break in the World Trade Center basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 47 years old.

William Macko

William Macko lived in Bayonne, New Jersey. He and his wife, Carol, had four children. William was a former U.S. Marine and enjoyed fishing and cooking. He worked for the Port Authority as an assistant chief mechanical supervisor for the World Trade Center. On February 26, 1993, William was on his lunch break in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 57 years old.

Currently on view in the 9/11 Memorial Museum is a cross carved from the same granite used for the 1993 memorial that stood on the World Trade Center Plaza until it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. William’s wife received the cross and kept it alongside their wedding photo and the American flag that draped William’s coffin at his funeral. 

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum will host a commemorative ceremony and a virtual tour on Friday to honor the six people killed in the first attack at the World Trade Center on February 26, 1993.

The ceremony, held on the 28th anniversary of the attack and in conjunction with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, will begin at 12:15 p.m. at the northwest corner of the North Pool, in the vicinity of panel N-73. We will observe a moment of silence at 12:18 p.m., marking the time when the attack occurred.

The commemoration will include a moment of silence and the reading of the names of John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, and Monica Rodriguez Smith as flowers are placed near where their names are inscribed on the bronze parapet of the North Pool.

At 2 p.m. on Friday, the 9/11 Memorial & Museum will host a free virtual tour through the Museum’s key spaces as we remember the first attack at the World Trade Center and commemorate the lives of the victims. This 60-minute program provides a deeper understanding of 9/11 and the 1993 bombing, the lead-up to the attacks, and their continuing global significance. 

The tour is live, interactive, and led by Museum staff through Zoom. Please RSVP to reserve your spot on the virtual tour. Space is limited and reservations are required.  

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

Lolita Jackson is a survivor of two terrorist attacks at the World Trade Center. On February 26, 1993, while Jackson, an employee at Morgan Stanley, was eating lunch at her desk on the 72nd floor of the South Tower, she heard a loud explosion.

In the hours and days after the explosion, it became clear to investigating authorities that this was a terror attack on the World Trade Center. At 12:18 p.m., a small cell of terrorists, with links to a local radical mosque and broader Islamist terror networks, detonated approximately 1,200 pounds of explosives in a rental van in the underground parking garage of the complex. Their hope was to bring the Twin Towers down. The explosion created a five-story, 150-feet-wide crater, filled with 4,000 tons of rubble, in the sub-grade levels of the two buildings and undermined the floor of an adjoining hotel.

Describing the conditions on the 72nd floor and her subsequent evacuation, Jackson says, “Soon after, our floor began filling with smoke, and we began our slow descent down the pitch-black stairways—50,000 people going down six sets of stairwells, two by two. It took us hours to get out that day, and we walked outside into a snowstorm.”

The general evacuation of the Twin Towers took over four hours, aided by the largest coordinated rescue effort in New York City history at that time. Local, state, and federal agencies responded, rescuing people trapped in elevators in the building, leading evacuations down the stairwells, and even evacuating some people on upper floors by helicopters on the roof.

As a result of the attack, more than 1,000 people were injured, and six people were killed: John DiGiovanni, Robert Kirkpatrick, Stephen A. Knapp, William Macko, Wilfredo Mercado, and Monica Rodriguez Smith, who was pregnant.

Jackson maintains that the impact of the attack continued beyond that day for Morgan Stanley. “Many lessons were learned from what took place in 1993 and changes were made,” she says, “including adding emergency lighting and reflective paint in the stairwells, regular mandatory fire drills, and most importantly, increased vigilance of those of us who worked there.”

She credits the resilience of the company and the safety protocol enhancements they implemented for saving hundreds of lives on September 11, 2001. “While the loss of life on 9/11 was devastating, there would have been a much greater loss of life if we had not learned from the experiences of 1993,” Jackson reflects, “Our company had 1,500 people in the buildings the morning of 9/11, but we only had 13 deaths. Even one death is too many, but hundreds more would have died had we not become more resilient after 1993.”

Having gained the title of “dual survivor,” Jackson changed her perspective on her life and her career, as did many of her colleagues: “Many, many of us changed our lives after 9/11. After going through this twice, I decided that if I could get killed at work, I had better really love my job.”

She left her job at Morgan Stanley in 2003 and pursued a new career path that landed her in the New York City Mayor’s Office in 2006. Fifteen years later, she serves as the climate diplomat for New York City—“a job I excel at and love,” she says. “I have been thriving, as have many of my colleagues who changed their careers post 9/11, becoming artists, non-profit executives, philanthropists, and more.  We took something that was profoundly devastating and turned it into an opportunity to change our lives.”

The 9/11 Memorial & Museum will commemorate the 28th anniversary of the February 26, 1993 attack on the World Trade Center on Friday, February 26, 2021. A moment of silence will be observed at 12:18 p.m. near panel N-73 where the names of those killed are inscribed. Each name will be read aloud.

To learn more about the 1993 attack or to participate in a free virtual tour of the 9/11 Memorial Museum offered on the anniversary, please visit our February 26, 1993 commemoration page.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff

On Wednesday, February 26, we will mark the 27th anniversary of the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center with a ceremony at the North Pool parapet N-73, where the names of the six victims of the attack are engraved on the 9/11 Memorial. We’ll gather with the victims’ families, survivors, downtown residents, and city and state officials and mark the anniversary with moment of silence, the tolling of a bell, and a reading of the names of the six victims of the first terror attack at the site.

John DiGiovanni

Born in Brooklyn, John DiGiovanni lived in Valley Stream, Long Island, with his mother. Known for his meticulousness, John detailed his car with a toothbrush. He worked as an East Coast sales manager for Kerr Chemicals.

Heading to a sales call on February 26, 1993, John pulled his car into the World Trade Center’s underground parking garage just before a bomb was detonated there. He was 45 years old.

A memorial fountain was built directly above the blast site on the World Trade Center’s Austin J. Tobin Plaza, which opened to the public two years after the attack on February 23. Inscribed on the 30-foot granite memorial were the names of the six victims. The fountain was destroyed on September 11, 2001, and only a single fragment of the 1993 memorial was recovered from the rubble. It bears part of John’s name.

Robert Kirkpatrick

Robert Kirkpatrick lived in Suffern, New York, with his wife, Evelyn. Skilled in carpentry, plumbing, and locksmithing, he worked for the Port Authority as a senior structural maintenance supervisor. Robert spoke of retiring in November 1993. On February 26 of that year, Robert was in the World Trade Center basement on his lunch break when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 61 years old.

Stephen Knapp

Stephen Knapp lived with his wife, Louise, and their two children on Staten Island, where he was born. Stephen worked at the World Trade Center since its opening and was the Port Authority’s chief maintenance supervisor.

A man who didn't need a lot to make him happy, Stephen enjoyed spending time with family and friends, fishing on his boat, going to the racetrack or a ballgame. He enjoyed playing with his kids and their friends, and he would often be having just as good a time as the young ones.

On February 26, 1993, Stephen was on his lunch break in the World Trade Center basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 47 years old.

William Macko

William Macko lived in Bayonne, New Jersey. He and his wife, Carol, had four children. William was a former U.S. Marine and enjoyed fishing and cooking. He worked for the Port Authority as an assistant chief mechanical supervisor for the World Trade Center. On February 26, 1993, William was on his lunch break in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. He was 57 years old.

Currently on view in the 9/11 Memorial Museum is a cross carved from the same granite used for the 1993 memorial that stood on the World Trade Center Plaza until it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. William’s wife received the cross and kept it alongside their wedding photo and the American flag that draped William’s coffin at his funeral.  

William Mercado

Born in Lima, Peru, Wilfredo Mercado lived in East New York, Brooklyn, with his wife, Olga, and their two daughters. Wilfredo worked two jobs at the World Trade Center: weekdays as Windows on the World’s purchasing agent and weekends as a security guard. On February 26, 1993, he was receiving food deliveries in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. Wilfredo was 37 years old.

Monica Smith

Born in Manta, Ecuador, Monica Smith lived in Seaford, Long Island, with her husband, Edward. She was pregnant with their first child and had recently renovated their home and set up the baby’s room. Monica worked at the World Trade Center as a mechanical unit secretary for the Port Authority. She loved her job and even met her husband there when he made a sales call to her office. Edward pursued her for two years before she agreed to a date.

Monica had immigrated to the United States with her parents and four brothers. “My wife was the embodiment of the American Dream,” said Smith in a tribute to his wife. He remembers her as “a vivacious, outgoing person who was full of energy. She was the life of the party. At the same time, she was a natural mom to the people around her.”

On February 26, 1993, her last day of work before maternity leave, she was having lunch in the complex’s basement when a bomb exploded in the nearby parking garage. She was 35 years old.

By 9/11 Memorial Staff