Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, February 15, 1994 TAG: 9402150154
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: SAN ANTONIO LENGTH: Short
Four agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were killed as agents stormed the compound near Waco on Feb. 28, 1993. Six Davidians also are believed to have died.
The botched raid led to a 51-day standoff, which ended with the April 19, 1993, fire. Koresh and 78 followers died in the blaze; 18 cult members had been shot. Prosecutors contend the fire was set in a mass suicide pact.
About 6 a.m. on April 19, FBI agent Byron Sage began warning Davidians to surrender and telling them that tear gas was being fired into the compound.
The transcript's first reference to fire was an unidentified man asking between 6:05 a.m. and 6:10 a.m., "Got any fuel?"
About 6:19 a.m., according to the transcript, an unidentified man's sentence ended with the phrase " . . . start the fire?"
According to the transcript, voices belonging to Koresh and his top assistant, Steven Schneider, discussed Coleman heating fuel at about 9:20 a.m.
At 11:40 a.m., an unidentified voice was quoted as saying "I want a fire around the back." The transcript ends with someone saying, "Let's keep that fire going. . . . "
The listening device went dead at 11:56 a.m. because a tank ran over it, FBI agent Matthew Gravelle testified Monday. The fire erupted about noon after armored vehicles battered the compound, and tear gas was launched inside.
by CNB