On Feb. 28, 1993, agents with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms led a failed raid on the Branch Davidian compound near Waco. The standoff led to a 51-day siege in which almost 80 people, including 17 children, died.
The raid 25 years ago would leave a painful reckoning for federal law enforcement agents. Four agents and five Davidians died the day the 51-day siege started. By the end, more than 80 were dead and America was forever changed.
Questions and conspiracy theories still shadow the Branch Davidian tragedy. It began unfolding 25 years ago Wednesday with a failed raid by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the sect's compound near Waco.
Twenty-five years ago Wednesday, 76 agents of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raided the Branch Davidians' property near Waco to arrest their leader, David Koresh, and search for evidence that the sect was making and stockpiling illegal machine guns, grenades and other armaments.
For many, the siege at Mount Carmel, the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, was a real-life nightmare. For hucksters who swarmed the perimeter of the compound, however, it was a golden opportunity.
On Feb. 28, 1993, more than 75 ATF agents rolled onto the property in two cattle trucks and launched a military-style raid to search the complex for illegal arms and arrest sect leader David Koresh, 33, on weapons charges.
