
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 20, 1993                   TAG: 9304200342
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-1   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Staff reports
DATELINE: WACO, TEXAS                                LENGTH: Medium

THE 51-DAY STANDOFF WITH DAVID KORESH AND

The 51-day standoff with David Koresh and his cult followers culminated Monday in a fiery spectacle that began with another assault on their compound and ended with the deaths of as many as 86 men, women and children in what authorities said may have been a mass suicide.

Authorities said Koresh, 33, a self-styled messiah, and his Branch Davidians set their compound afire Monday afternoon after FBI agents had knocked holes in their wooden buildings with combat engineer vehicles and pumped tear gas into their living quarters for six hours.

Ranch Apocalypse, as Koresh called the compound, burned within minutes. It probably was filled with explosives and other ammunition.

"I can't tell you the shock and the horror that all of us felt when we saw those flames coming out," FBI spokesman Bob Ricks said. "We thought, `Oh my God, they are killing themselves.' "

Attorney General Janet Reno said she approved the assault in hopes of forcing a peaceful ending to the standoff.

Federal authorities said they wouldn't know the precise death toll until they could search an underground maze of passageways. The search was expected to start today, after the site cooled down.

"We can only assume that there was a massive loss of life," Ricks said.

Four of the known survivors, including a 16-year-old girl, were hospitalized with burns and broken bones; the five others were being held as material witnesses in McLennan County Jail.

Seventeen children under 10 were believed to be inside. Ricks said authorities had received reports, apparently from survivors, that the children had been injected with poison to ease their pain.

One survivor told authorities that people inside the compound had set the blaze, said Justice Department spokesman Carl Stern. The man said he heard people saying, " `The fire's been lit, the fire's been lit,' " Stern said.

Ricks said multiple witnesses, including FBI snipers positioned outside the compound, saw cult members setting fires.

"David Koresh, we believe, gave the order to commit suicide, and they all followed willingly his order," Ricks said. "He wanted to have as many people killed in that compound as possible."

Dick DeGuerin, Koresh's attorney, said the FBI's actions changed the rules.

"The situation changed when the FBI went back and injected tear gas and ripped apart the walls," he said. "I think that could have only been seen by those inside as the Apocalypse coming upon them."

Koresh's mother, Bonnie Haldeman, lashed out at the FBI late Monday: "There were law-abiding, God-fearing people in there. They didn't hurt anybody. It's ridiculous. They're going to pay."

The standoff began Feb. 28 when agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms tried to serve arrest warrants for weapons violations and child abuse. Four agents were killed in the resulting shootout.

Keywords:
FATALITY

by CNB