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The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by U.S. 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, 1993.
5 days ago · Waco siege, Oklahoma City bombing, Columbine shooting: April tragedies. Waco siege, a 51-day standoff between Branch Davidians and federal agents that ended on April 19, 1993, when the religious group’s compound near Waco, Texas, was destroyed in a fire. Nearly 80 people were killed.
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- David Koresh
- Branch Davidians
- Koresh and The FBI
- Fire Engulfs Waco Compound
- Legacy of The Waco Siege
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On February 28, 1993, some 80 agents from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) raided a religious compound at Mount Carmel, near Waco, Texas, after receiving reports that the Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, were violating federal firearms regulations. After four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed in the gun ...
In the 1930s, a disgruntled member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church named Victor Houteff had broken away and founded the Davidian movement. After Houteff’s death, Ben Roden led an offshoot of the movement known as the Branch Davidians, who took control of Houteff’s original settlement at Mount Carmel, near Waco, by 1962. Believing the Bible is l...
In his negotiations with the FBI during the Waco siege, Koresh claimed he was a messianic figure prophesied in the Bible and that God had given him his surname. He threatened violence against those who would attack him and his family, but asserted that the Davidians weren’t planning a mass suicide. To the Branch Davidians, Koresh was “the Lamb,” th...
In mid-April, after religious scholars reached out to Koresh through a radio discussion of the teachings of Revelation, Koresh sent a message through his lawyer announcing he had received word from God and was writing his message on the Seven Seals; he would come out with his followers when he was finished. The FBI, unconvinced, decided to act to e...
From the beginning, the government’s handling of the Waco siege (which played out in the national and international media) was heavily criticized. Reno took responsibility for the botched raid, later admitting there was no evidence of ongoing child abuse within the compound (which had been one of the justifications for ordering the gas attack). Tho...
Waco: The Inside Story, PBS Frontline. James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher, Why Waco? Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America. Malcolm Gladwell, “Sacred and Profane,” The New Yorker(March 31, 2014).
- Laura Barcella
- 5 min
- Experts still debate whether the Branch Davidians were, in fact, a ‘cult.’ Though the dominant narrative at the time of the siege was that Koresh was a sketchy cult leader, there has never been consensus about whether the group was a legitimate cult.
- David Koresh (that wasn’t his real name) was mocked during childhood. David Koresh was born Vernon Wayne Howell in Houston, Texas in 1959. His mother was 15 when she gave birth to him, and Koresh’s grandparents ended up raising him.
- Not everyone thinks the government acted appropriately during the standoff. “There are a whole bunch of unknowns [when it comes to Waco],” says Reavis.
- David Koresh once went to trial for attempted murder. Koresh joined the Branch Davidians when he was 22 years old and soon became enmeshed in an affair with the group’s president, Lois Roden, then in her 60s.
Mar 22, 2023 · An aerial shot of the Branch Davidian compound, taken on April 21, 1993, after it was destroyed by a fire. On February 28, 1993, the ATF attempted to raid the Mount Carmel Center and serve its...
Jan 24, 2018 · By Melissa Chan. January 24, 2018 9:00 AM EST. T he standoff between federal agents and the Branch Davidians outside Waco, Texas, dominated headlines for months. The siege left 75 people –...
