A reporter asking directions helped wreck the surprise raid that began Waco
Federal agents planned a sudden daylight raid on a Texas religious compound in February 1993. A reporter tipped off about it asked a mail carrier for directions, and the carrier happened to be the leader's brother-in-law. The resulting 51-day standoff ended in a fire in which 76 Branch Davidians died.
The Branch Davidians traced their roots to a 1955 split among followers of Victor Houteff, who had preached an imminent apocalypse. In 1959 his widow Florence announced that Armageddon was at hand, and members sold belongings to wait at the Mount Carmel Center near Waco. When that prophecy failed, Benjamin Roden took control, followed by his wife Lois. After a 1984 rift, their son George Roden drove a rival faction led by Vernon Howell off the property at gunpoint.
The feud turned bizarre. George Roden dug up a buried member's casket and challenged Howell to a contest to raise her from the dead; Howell went to the police instead, and in November 1987 a gunfight broke out when Howell's group tried to photograph the casket. Roden was later jailed over his abusive court filings, and Howell took over. In 1990 a California court approved his change of name to David Koresh. He told followers that God wanted him to father children with the group's wives while other men stayed celibate.
In 1992 a UPS driver's report prompted inquiries into suspected illegal weapons, and in February 1993 the Waco Tribune-Herald published allegations that Koresh abused children and took underage brides. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms obtained warrants, but its surprise was lost and the raid on February 28 turned into a gunfight. After 51 days, on April 19, the FBI pumped in CS tear gas to force people out, and soon the buildings were ablaze. In all, 86 people died across the siege, including 28 children and Koresh himself.
What caused the fire remains disputed. Justice Department reports in October 1993 and July 2000 concluded the Davidians set it, citing surveillance recordings, while acknowledging that the FBI had fired pyrotechnic gas canisters. Timothy McVeigh named Waco, along with Ruby Ridge, as a main reason for the Oklahoma City bombing, which he and Terry Nichols carried out on April 19, 1995, exactly two years later.
Source: Waco siege
