Agents of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms attempted to serve a search warrant on the Mount Carmel compound of David Koresh's Branch Davidian sect. A firefight erupted, killing four ATF agents and six Davidians, and the botched raid escalated into a 51-day FBI siege that ended on April 19 with a fire that killed 76 people inside.
Before dawn on February 28, 1993, roughly 80 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms approached the Mount Carmel Center, a rural compound outside Waco, Texas, home to David Koresh's Branch Davidian religious sect, suspecting illegal stockpiling of automatic weapons. The element of surprise was already lost; a local news cameraman had asked a mail carrier for directions to the compound, and the carrier happened to be Koresh's brother-in-law, who tipped off the group.
When agents arrived, gunfire broke out almost immediately, though each side has always blamed the other for firing first. The battle raged for roughly two hours. Four ATF agents died and sixteen were wounded; six Branch Davidians were killed, including Koresh, who was shot in the hip.
Rather than retreating, the government dug in for a siege. FBI negotiators and tactical teams surrounded the compound for 51 days, deploying floodlights, loudspeakers blasting recordings, and armored vehicles. The standoff ended April 19 when tanks breached the walls and a fire, its cause still disputed, swept through the buildings, killing 76 people including more than 20 children. The tragedy became a rallying point for anti-government militia movements and directly influenced Timothy McVeigh's 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, carried out on the siege's second anniversary.
Key people: David Koresh