FOUR AGENTS KILLED, FOURTEEN WOUNDED IN CULT ASSAULT
Waco, TX - A bloody assault has been carried out by agents of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (BATF) at the Mount Carmel compound of a little known religious sect called "Branch Davidian", ten miles East of here. The original raid to serve warrants occurred early on Sunday morning (Feb. 28th) and was supposed to have been a "complete surprise"; unfortunately it wasn't a surprise and four BATF agents were killed and sixteen wounded by forty- five minutes of withering automatic gunfire from inside the compound.
BATF agents killed were Conway LeBleu-age 30, of Hammond LA, Todd Mckeehan-age 28, of Mandelville, LA, Robert Williams-age 26, of Little Rock, AK, and Steven Wills-age 32, of Houston, TX. Of the sixteen (16) other agents that were injured, most were said to have been shot by automatic weapons fire . . . including that from a .50 caliber machinegun. According to BATF agent and spokesperson Sharon Wheeler, "The problem was that we were outgunned . . . and we couldn't fire randomly into the building because of women and children known to be in there."
The stand-off between the off-shoot Seventh Day Adventist fundamentalists and more than 250 federal officers have gone on for more than 96 hours. During the course of the siege, Cult leader David Koresh (legal name - Vernon Howell) has offered a number of "biblical tirades" on radio and television stations, before he was isolated from the media by federal law enforcement officials. At one point Koresh offered to surrender himself and all of the estimated seventy-five (75) other "Davidian" followers if he were allowed make a religious speech on a Dallas radio station. But, after making the speech, Koresh did not surrender. During the past several days, however, Koresh has released a total of twenty (20) children, women, and elderly adults.
Early reports said that Koresh had been wounded in the initial gunbattle that began the siege. A recording of Koresh's voice on his mother's answering machine said, "Hello mama . . . it's your boy . . . they shot me and I'm dying . . . I'll see you in the skies." Police sources say that the wounds must not be major, or Koresh would not be able continue his negotiations or to direct the defense of the communal compound, which Koresh still reportedly has been doing.
Monday (Mar. 1st), the Federal Bureau of Investigation sent it's elite Hostage Rescue Team from Washington, DC, where it had been participating in the Investigation of the World Trade Center bombing. Because of the nature of the crimes associated with murdering a federal agent on Sunday, the FBI is said to have assumed over-all control of the investigation and negotiations at the compound. As many as two hundred and fifty (250) federal, state, and local law enforcement officers are said to have assumed defensive and "over-watch" positions surrounding the heavily-armed compound.
BATF and FBI sources have said that they intend to "wait out" Koresh and his followers, and that they don't anticipate a further assault on the compound unless circumstances change dramatically. One agent, who asked to remain anonymous, said that most of the negotiators were hopeful of being able to "manipulate" Koresh into surrendering, but that his irrational behavior and references to "waiting for instructions from God" are troublesome to some agents. He said that there is some fear that Koresh may commit mass murder or cause mass suicide if he is not totally convinced that the negotiations are being satisfactorily conducted. The seige goes on...
Reprinted with permission. (c) EmergencyNet News Service, 1993, All Rights Reserved.