Topic summary
Waco siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by US federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, between February 28 and April 19 of 1993, which resulted in the deaths of 86 people, including 28 children. The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, 13 miles (21 km) northeast of Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and several of the group's members.
The ATF had planned a sudden daylight raid of the ranch in order to serve these warrants. Any advantage of surprise was lost when a local reporter who had been tipped off about the raid asked for directions from a US Postal Service mail carrier who was coincidentally Koresh's brother-in-law. Thus, the group's members were fully armed and prepared; upon the ATF initiating the raid, an intense gunfight erupted, resulting in the deaths of four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians. Following the ATF entering the property and its failure to execute the search warrant, a siege was initiated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), during which negotiations between the parties attempted to reach a compromise.
After 51 days, on April 19, 1993, the FBI launched a CS gas (tear gas) attack in an attempt to force the Branch Davidians out of the compound's buildings. Shortly thereafter, the Mount Carmel Center became engulfed in flames. The fire resulted in the deaths of 76 Branch Davidians, including 20–28 children and Koresh.
The details about the events of the siege and attack in Elk, Texas (outside of Waco), particularly the origin of the fire, have been disputed by various sources. Department of Justice reports from October 1993 and July 2000 state that the Branch Davidians had started the fire, though they acknowledge that the FBI used CS gas canisters. They cited evidence from audio surveillance recordings of very specific discussions between Koresh and others about pouring more fuel on piles of hay as the fires started, and from aerial footage that ostensibly showed at least three simultaneous ignition points at different locations in the building complex. The FBI has stated that none of their agents fired any live rounds on the day of the fire. However, critics have argued that live rounds were fired by law enforcement, and suggest that a combination of gunshots and flammable CS gas was the true cause of the fire.
The Ruby Ridge standoff and the Waco siege were cited by Timothy McVeigh as the main reasons for his and Terry Nichols's plan to execute the Oklahoma City bombing exactly two years later, on April 19, 1995, as well as the modern-day American militia movement.