"We survivors of 1993 are looking for David and all those that died either in the shootout or in the fire," Doyle says. He says they are still waiting on the resurrection of Koresh. Doyle has become the Davidians' unofficial historian and spokesman. "If the FBI believed they were dealing with members of a cult who were not in their right minds, then why would the FBI put so much pressure on them and then ultimately carry out an assault which just confirmed David Koresh's prophecies?" Wessinger says.Ĭlive Doyle, a 72-year-old Australian-Texan, still lives in Waco and still has Bible study every Saturday with another survivor, Sheila Martin. Some critics maintain to this day that the FBI raid inadvertently caused the fire.Įither way, the agency's actions are indefensible, says Catherine Wessinger, a religious historian at Loyola University in New Orleans, an authority on apocalyptic groups and an expert on the Davidian episode. Most of the post-incident reports blame the Davidians for starting the fire and for shooting each other in consensual suicides. A blustery spring wind fanned the flames, and the structure was reduced to charcoal in less than an hour. Then, a fire erupted and incinerated the building. On April 19, tanks punched holes in the flimsy building and began inserting tear gas. The FBI then took charge of the standoff, and for 51 days agents tightened the noose around the Davidians using loud music, bright lights, bulldozers and flash-bang grenades. In a 911 call, a Davidian and attorney named Wayne Martin said there were women and children inside the compound and told authorities to call off the raid. Four agents and five Davidians died in the gunbattle. 28, 1993, a strike force from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided his compound at Mount Carmel. He was suspected of polygamy, having sex with underage girls and stockpiling illegal weapons. David Koresh was the self-appointed prophet of a small religious community. Most people born in an earlier generation know the outlines of the story. Two decades later, some of the Branch Davidians who survived the raid are still believers, while a new church group has moved onto the land. It's remembered as one of the darkest chapters in American law enforcement history. The standoff ended with a raid and fire that killed some 80 people. Twenty years ago, federal agents clashed with David Koresh's Branch Davidian community near Waco, Texas. A 51-day standoff at the compound ended in a fire and the deaths of about 80 sect members, including two dozen children. Flames engulf the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, on April 20, 1993.
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