The 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas, began on Feb. 28, when federal agents on
the trail of illegal weapons manufacture tried to raid the compound of the
Branch Davidian religious sect. Finally, 51 days later, on April 19, agents
stormed the buildings seeking to arrest the sect's leader, David Koresh — a
fanatic who said he was Jesus Christ and had several "wives," some as young
as 12. But after a gun battle, tear gas and a raging fire, 21 children and
55 adult Branch Davidians, including Koresh, were dead. Also killed were
four law enforcement agents. While the government claimed sect members
attacked first and started the fire, survivors and victims' relatives say
the members were attacked unprovoked, that they never fired at police, and
that it was the government's tear gas that caused the deadly inferno.
Exactly two years later to the day of the Waco incident, troubled Gulf War veteran Timothy
McVeigh bombed a federal building in Oklahoma City. One-hundred sixty-eight
victims — including 19 children — perished. The date of the bombing was no
coincidence. McVeigh, who strongly believed the government wrongly raided
the Davidian compound and covered up some of their actions, chose Waco's
two-year anniversary to carry out his plan — detonating a truck bomb weighing 4,800 pounds directly outside the Alfred P. Murrah building shortly after the business day began.
