Case 339: Waco (Part 2/3)

For early access and dad-free episodes, check out our Patreon, Apple Premium and Spotify subscription memberships. Our episodes deal with serious and often-distressing incidents. If you feel at any time you need support, please contact your local crisis center. For suggested phone numbers for confidential support and for a more detailed list of content warnings, please see the show notes for this episode on your app or on our website. In the wooded hills of Northern Idaho, just 30 odd miles south of the Canadian border, lies a mountain ridge in the Konixu National Forest known as Ruby Ridge. This rugged and remote location was home to 20 acres of land that belonged to a former US Army Special Forces officer named Randy Weaver. Randy had bought the land in 1983 after his wife, Vicki, who was deeply religious, began having recurring dreams about living on a mountain top. Believing an apocalypse was imminent and that Vicki's dreams indicated where they needed to be, Randy and Vicki sold their belongings, learnt from an armished community how to live without electricity and build a basic cabin on their newly purchased land. It had no power or running water, but the weavers made it work. Over the next decade, they turned it into a home for their four children, Sarah, Samuel, Rachel and Elisabeth. The family lived a survivalist self-sufficient lifestyle. Instead of buying food, they hunted and foraged and raised their own livestock. The children were homeschooled. Despite their isolated setup, the weavers made friends with others in the area. They even took in a troubled teenager named Kevin Harris. Early on the morning of Friday, August 21, 1992, Kevin Harris and 14-year-old Samuel Weaver were walking along a trail that led to the family's cabin accompanied by one of the Weaver's dogs, a Labrador Retriever named Striker. The trail was wide enough to accommodate an SUV and flanked by heavy woods on either side. When a noise emanated from some nearby brush, Striker barked. The dog approached the brush, still barking loudly. Hoping Striker might have sniffed out some game they could hunt for meat, Samuel and Kevin followed. According to later testimony from the Weaver family, gunfire suddenly rang out, killing Striker. Three US marshals who dressed from head to toe in camouflage and carrying M-16 rifles had been hiding in the surrounding woods as part of a reconnaissance team keeping watch over the property. One of them shot Striker after he revealed their location. Samuel Weaver cried out, "You've killed my dog, you son of a bitch." As he was carrying a firearm, the 14-year-old returned fire. A second US marshall shot back in his direction, hitting Samuel in the arm. Samuel began running up a hill back toward the family's house when he was shot again twice in the back and fell face down on the ground. Meanwhile, Kevin had dived behind a tree stump for cover before firing his own gun at the marshals. He hit and killed one of them. Kevin Harris managed to flee back to the cabin. Wealls and despair could be heard from inside its walls as the family discovered that their only son and brother had been killed. 19 rounds had been fired during the confrontation. Three were shot by Samuel Weaver, two by Kevin Harris, and 14 by the three US marshals combined. The marshals storied differed somewhat from the Weaver families. They had been at the property as part of a planned raid to arrest Randy Weaver, a white supremacist who'd been on the radar of multiple law enforcement agencies for years. In 1985, a neighbor had accused him of threatening to kill then US president Ronald Reagan, the governor of Idaho, and Pope John Paul II. It was said that Randy was a member of the racist terror group Aryan Nations, and that he had a large cache of firearms. In 1986, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, known as the ATF, learnt of Randy Weaver after one of their informants met him at the World Aryan Congress. A convention where American neo-nazis called for the creation of a new, white, and male-dominated homeland. Randy met with the informant several times, and suggested they form a group to fight what he called the Zionist Organized Government. This was his term for the United States government, referencing an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that claims Jews secretly run Western states. The ATF later charged Randy Weaver with selling their undercover informant two shotguns with barrels that had been sought off below the legal minimum length. In October 1990, a grand jury indicted Randy for possession of illegal weapons. He was granted bail but failed to appear in court for his scheduled trial date. It was said that Randy possessed multiple firearms and arresting him at his own residence was therefore deemed too dangerous. This led to the US Marshals attempting to arrange for Randy to surrender himself peacefully. After four months of failed negotiations on Friday, August 21, 1992, the US Marshals descended on the Weaver property undercover of darkness in a planned raid that resulted in 14-year-old Samuel Weaver, a US Marshal named William Bill Deegan, and the Weaver's dog being killed. In the Marshals' version of events, Randy Weaver had been with Samuel Kevin and Striker as they approached the brush. They claimed that when Striker exposed to their locations, they shouted to identify themselves, which led to Kevin Harris firing at them and initiating the confrontation. Deputy US Marshal Deegan, who Kevin had mortally wounded, fired seven rounds back, while another Marshal shot Striker scared the dog would attack. It was then that Samuel Weaver started firing. Ballistics reports indicated that Samuel was killed by Deputy US Marshal Larry Cooper, though these reports weren't conclusive. Cooper denied shooting Samuel, saying he hid Kevin Harris instead, though there was no evidence that Kevin was struck at all. The FBI later stated that they hadn't realised Samuel Weaver was dead until days after the shootout. The altercation led to a standoff between law enforcement and the Weaver family. While the Weavers barricaded themselves in their home, the Marshals radioed for reinforcements. State police, ATF agents, an FBI hostage rescue team, and FBI snipers took up locations around the property. Given the drastic situation with two people already dead, one of those a member of federal law enforcement, and a family said to be armed and dangerous, the FBI amended its usual rules of engagement. Ordinarily, an FBI agent can only fire against someone if they or other agents are in danger of bodily harm or death. At Ruby Ridge, agents would be permitted to fire at any adult male holding a weapon, as long as the shot could be taken without endangering children. In the wake of the initial shootout, members of the Weaver family had managed to collect Samuel's body from where it lay dead on the ground and moved him to a shed. On Saturday, August 22, they made plans to bury him. Before laying his son to rest, Randy Weaver left the cabin to visit him one last time. He was joined by his 16-year-old daughter, Sarah, and family friend, Kevin Harris. Randy Weaver was lifting the latch to the shed where Samuel's body lay when a shot rang out. An FBI sniper named Lon Hoaryuchi, who had been watching the scene from 200 yards to the north, had taken fire. The shot struck Randy in his back, with the bullet exiting his right armpit. Injured but not incapacitated, Randy turned and ran back towards the cabin. cabin with Sarah and Kevin. Sarah did her best to shield her father from being shot again, realizing that he was the target and pushed him in front of her towards the cabin. Vicky Weaver stood in the cabin's doorway, holding the door open for them with her 10-month-old daughter, Aliciaba, in her arms. Randy and Sarah raced indoors with Kevin behind them. As he crossed the threshold, Agent Horiuchi fired another shot aiming for Kevin. But the bullet struck Vicky first, fatally tearing through her face before hitting Kevin Harris in the chest. Vicky fell to the floor with her infant daughter still in her arms. Kevin was badly injured and begged Randy to kill him and put him out of his misery. Randy refused. The Weavers felt like they were being hunted. They had no faith in the federal government and refused to trust the FBI negotiators who tried to arrange for their surrender. The standoff went on for days, with the Weaver family hold up inside their cabin and federal agents surrounding the property. A crowd of spectators and protesters sympathetic to the Weavers gathered at the base of the mountain, some carried signs that decried the actions of federal law enforcement. One read, "Federal informant, federal charges, federal attack. I'm fed up. Are you? Stand up before it's too late." Eventually, a former US Army Special Forces member with similar politics to Randy Weaver was called in to help. Over three days, he managed to convince Randy to surrender, promising that he would assist in getting Randy a fair trial. The standoff finally came to an end on Monday, August 31, 11 days after it began. Randy Weaver and Kevin Harris, who recovered from his bullet wound after the surrender, were charged with multiple offences, including the murder of the US Marshal. Both men were acquitted of this most serious crime at a federal trial. Ballistic reports revealed that Randy Weaver hadn't fired a single shot during the entire standoff. In the end, Randy was sentenced to 18 months in prison for missing his original court date and violating bail conditions. He later filed a $200 million civil suit against the government for the wrongful deaths of his wife and son. In 1995, the government settled the case, agreeing to pay Randy Weaver $100,000 and $1 million to each of his three daughters. The events at Ribby Ridge sent shockwaves through the United States and had significant ramifications. The media and the public were broadly critical of how the various federal agencies had handled the case. A special task force report and a Senate subcommittee report both agreed that the rules of engagement were unconstitutional. They also broadly agreed with the Weaver's version of how the altercation began. Agent Lon Horyuchi, the FBI sniper who shot killed Weaver, was charged with involuntary manslaughter, though the case against him was ultimately dismissed. There were no criminal convictions for the death severe the Samuel or Weaver. For many Americans, the Ribby Ridge incident was seen as a shocking example of state overreach and unnecessary government interference into the lives of private citizens. Roughly 2,000 miles away, at the Mount Carmel Center east of Waco, Texas, members of the Branch Davidian Church were among those taking note. For some time now, their leader, David Kuresh, had been predicting and impending apocalypse on their land, which would take the form of government persecution. What are you going to do six months from now when this is all surrounded by tanks? He'd asked several followers in June of 1992. Two months later, as they followed reports of the Ribby Ridge Siege on television news, David Kuresh wondered aloud. Is it a dress rehearsal for an attack on Mount Carmel? The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, abbreviated to the ATF, is a US federal law enforcement agency that falls under the Department of Justice. Initially founded as a way to collect taxes on imported spirits and tobacco, the agency's role evolved over time, taking on a more investigative and regulatory role. The ATF is responsible for investigating crimes that involve alcohol, tobacco, firearms and explosives, which has made it an unpopular agency at times. This has been attributed to the ATF's role in regulating products that many Americans enjoy and don't want regulated. In the words of author Jeff Gwynn, the agency has become something of the public punching bag. The ATF wasn't just unpopular with the public. It struggled with lawmakers too. It received less funding than other federal law enforcement agencies, had fewer employees and frequently came under attack by the country's powerful gun lobby, the National Rifle Association. The ATF's role as the nation's enforcer of gun laws meant it was often accused of trampling on citizens' second amendment rights, the amendment in the US Constitution that entrines the rights of Americans to bear arms. In the early 1990s, the ATF was in such a dire financial straits that agents in charge of divisional officers began issuing fines to other agents if they were late for meetings, just so they had some money they could use to purchase necessary equipment. The ATF undertook its own investigations but was also often caught upon by other agencies to provide support as required. In early June of 1992, the ATF received one request from a sheriff's department in Texas who said that they were dealing with a situation in Maclennan County near the city of Waco. And it all started with some reports of troubling things being sent in the mail. Larry Gilbrath was a driver for the United Parcel Service, or UPS, and he had been delivering parcels to the Mount Carmel compound since 1986. Sometimes he made several deliveries in one week. Initially, he'd thought nothing of it. The residents who lived at Mount Carmel were viewed by the broader community in Waco was maybe a little odd, but harmless and to decent people. Larry would drive their parcels out to the Mount Carmel compound where David Karrash often signed for them personally. He was always friendly and Larry enjoyed chatting with him about cars and other hobbies. But things changed over time. While the parcels had initially born packaging labels that indicated they contained medication or other personal items, larger boxes had started arriving from an arms dealer. More and more kept coming. Larry thought it was strange that a religious organization would be ordering so many firearms. In early 1992, David Karrash began redirecting these deliveries so they weren't addressed to the Mount Carmel compound. Instead, Larry had to take them to a garage that they rented several miles away, known as the MAG bag. The branched dividends who met Larry to sign for the packages began dressing in military fatigues. In Larry's view, they looked more like a militia than a church group. They were also ordering ammunition and magazines for 223 rifles, AK-47s and AR-15s. They even ordered a grenade launcher. One day in February of 1992, Larry dropped one of the parcels marked for delivery to the MAG bag and it broke open. Inside were about 50 hand grenades. Several rolled out of the box. Inside, Larry jumped back, before realizing that they were just the grenade casings and they had no explosives inside. Still, the side of so many potential bombs was alarming, especially as Larry had noted that another delivery was marked as containing black powder, a substance used to make explosives. Larry told his wife about the incident, who in turn reported it to the local sheriff's department. The Gilbreaths told the sheriff about the other deliveries as well. It wasn't illegal to receive large shipments of firearms in Texas, but the grenades and black powder were more concerning. Plus, some of the ammunition David Kuresh was ordering was for fully automatic rifles, suggesting he might be illegally converting semi-automatic weapons. The size of these orders was large enough to suggest a substantial operation. A number of the sheriff's deputies also remembered David Kuresh's shootout with the George Rodin several years earlier, and how he was subsequently trialed for attempted murder. On Thursday June 4, 1992, McClellan County Sheriff's Department reached out to the ATF to request an investigation. Regent David Aguilera began looking into the matter, tracing David Kuresh's purchases of firearms and ammunition. He also interviewed neighbors who lived near the Mount Carmel compound to see if they denoted anything strange. One neighbor, a military veteran, mentioned that in January of 1992, he'd heard machine-gun fire coming from Mount Carmel. The learning that Kuresh had purchased weapons from a local dealer named Henry McMahon, Agent Aguilera spoke to him as well. Henry told the agent that he and Kuresh were in business together. Kuresh and his branched dividends assembled AR-15s from other parts, then Henry sold them at gun shows. Agent Aguilera informed Henry that this arrangement could make him liable for an 11% federal tax on any proceeds, and he'd need to keep meticulous records of every transaction. This prompted Henry to cancel the arrangement with Kuresh, as he didn't want the extra cost or hassle. While he was speaking with Agent Aguilera, Henry called Kuresh to tell him that the ATF was there asking questions. Now the branched dividends would know they were being investigated. Well if there's a problem, tell them to come out here, Kuresh replied. But the agents declined his invitation, as they didn't yet have a warrant to search the compound, and doubted Kuresh would show them everything they wanted to see. Agent Aguilera continued working on his investigation, certain that Kuresh was involved in illegal firearm activities. He also sent a report on his discoveries to ATF headquarters, asking for permission to seek a search warrant for Mount Carmel from federal court. While Agent Aguilera was waiting to hear back about his request, news broke of the siege at Ruby Ridge, in which two innocent civilians at a U.S. marshal had been killed. Police led to significant negative publicity for the ATF along with other federal law enforcement agencies. Two months after the conclusion of the siege, Agent Aguilera was informed on Monday November 2 that his request to search Mount Carmel had been denied. The denial of Agent Aguilera's request didn't mean the case was closed. He just meant that Aguilera had to keep digging for more evidence. Understaffing at the ATF meant that he was mostly working solo with occasional help here and there. He'd managed to track down multiple arms dealers who'd sold to Kuresh, and established that the branched civilians possessed enough firearms, conversion kits and munitions to suggest that they were likely involved in illegal sales. Aguilera hadn't found any actual evidence that proved criminal activity. In December 1992, he began focusing more on interviewing individuals who might have witnessed illegal activity. Agent Aguilera spoke to child protective services worker Joyce Sparks about her investigation into the branched civilians. Amongst her general recollections of what she'd seen at Mount Carmel, Joyce described how a little boy there had told her that all of the adults had guns and practiced using them a lot. Joyce had asked a David Kuresh if she could see the guns kept at the compound. After a 30 minute wait, Kuresh escorted Joyce to an old yellow school bus that lay next to the compound. It was mostly buried under the ground. At one end of the bus was a refrigerator marked with bullet holes. Three rifles lay on the floor. Kuresh explained that he did his target practice there, as the bus muffled the sound and didn't disturb the neighbors. Joyce also related how Kuresh had given an ominous warning, stating, "My time is coming. When I reveal myself as the messenger and my time comes, what happens will make the riots in LA pale in comparison." He was referring to the 1992 Los Angeles riots, which saw a series of violent riots and civil disturbances across Los Angeles County during May and April of that year. In total, 63 people had been killed and 2,383 were injured. Agent Aguilera interviewed some ex-Brenched Dividians, including Mark Bro, who was living in Australia and had started a campaign against Kuresh after becoming disillusioned with his former mentor. Mark described how he had participated in shooting practice alongside Kuresh and said that Branch Dividians took it in turns to stand guard around the building while armed. He himself had done so with a loaded gun. According to Mark, Kuresh had told them that if anyone attempted to enter the property, they should shoot to kill. During one conversation, Kuresh had disparaged gun laws as ludicrous because, quote, "An individual could easily acquire a firearm and the necessary parts to convert it to a machine gun. But, if a person had the gun and the parts together, they would be in violation of the law." This was significant as it was an open admission that Kuresh knew he was breaking the law by converting firearms. The witness who to left the branch Dividians in June 1992 said that Kuresh's arsenal had grown even larger in recent months. This individual had seen a 50-calibre weapon so large that it was mounted on a tactical biopod and had heard of other similar firearms on the property. There were also around 15 AR-15s, 25 AK-47s, several pistols, and three street sweepers, a 12-gauge 12-shot shotgun with a spring-driven drum magazine and a folding buttstock. Each time a street sweeper's trigger was released after firing a shot, the magazine rotated to position the next shot for firing. Agent Aguilera also spoke to one of Kuresh's former wives, Robin Barnes, her brother and her mother, Janine, who had also slept with Kuresh with the intention of conceiving a child. They told the agent that Kuresh had screened violent movies about the Vietnam War and told his followers they were training films. Branch Dividians armed with guns took turns standing guard around the building and there were sometimes shooting drills with AK-47s. The guns also told Aguilera that there were foreigners at Mount Carmel who had overstayed their visas, and that Kuresh had fathered more than a dozen children with various women and girls. They explained that no men other than Kuresh were permitted to engage in sexual activity. Janine Barnes told the agent that she had personally delivered some of the babies born to female Branch Dividians. The youngest mother had been just 11 years old. Although the sexual abuse of minors and immigration violations did not fall under the ATF's jurisdiction, these other alleged crimes strengthened Aguilera's case, especially as it was against federal law for illegal aliens to receive a firearm. Upon performing background checks on the Branch Dividians, agent Aguilera found that more than 40 were foreign nationals, many of whom were there illegally. Several others had been arrested, convicted, or were under investigation for various crimes. ranging from fraud to smuggling and to narcotics offenses. Agent Aguilera had enough to obtain the search warrant he needed to raid Mount Carmel. But he still wanted evidence that was stronger than statements from former members who de-left the compound years earlier. On Friday, October 2, 1992, the ATF installed a pole camera along the road near the property in the hopes of capturing photographic proof of the branched dividends shooting drills. Unfortunately, the footage captured by the cameras was too poor to be of any use. Their next option was to send in some undercover agents. Case file will be back shortly. Thank you for supporting us by listening to this episode's sponsors. Thank you for listening to this episode's ads. By supporting our sponsors, you support Case file to continue to deliver quality content. The Mount Carmel compound had a long driveway and set 200 yards back from double-E Ranch Road. It was a narrow road that could barely accommodate two lanes and much of it was unpaved. It was mostly packed to dirt framed by gravel along its margins. Sprawling sparse fields lay on either side with an occasional house here and there. As there were just a few other properties within the vicinity of Mount Carmel, everybody there knew one another. One of these properties sat directly across the road from the Mount Carmel driveway. In late 1992, the tenants of that house moved out, explaining that the properties owner wanted to perform some minor repairs. In January 1993, eight men in their late 20s and early 30s moved in. They told the Branch Davidians and other neighbours that they were students at Texas State Technical College in Waco. Not long after they arrived, they threw a housewarming party and invited the Branch Davidians. In reality, they were undercover ATF agents tasked with surveilling the Mount Carmel compound. Their new home was dubbed the undercover house. They kept cameras aimed at the compound at all times and denoted all the comings and goings of its residents. The ATF estimated that about 75 people lived at Mount Carmel, but it was difficult to obtain an accurate count of the residents due to the way people came and went from the building. There were always people milling about. In actuality, Mount Carmel's population was almost double that amount. There were 130 Branch Davidians there, including 42 men, 45 women and 43 children aged 15 and younger. The undercover agents also wanted to get a sense of what the compound's internal layout was like. On Thursday, January 28, to 1993, two of the undercover agents walked over to Mount Carmel and tried to strike up a conversation with some of the men working outside on the property. After a few of these visits, agent Robert Rodriguez received an invitation from David Kourash to attend a Bible study. The two seemed to build a rapport with Kourash spending time talking to Agent Rodriguez one-on-one. He warned the undercover agent that his group was being persecuted by law enforcement and said that Rodriguez would also be watched by police if he continued to visit. Kourash spoke disparagingly of regulations that made it illegal to convert semi-automatic rifles to automatic ones without a permit. He referred to the United States as "the dragon" and said it was going to be destroyed. Over the next few weeks, Rodriguez visited a few more times and even participated in shooting practice with Kourash. On Sunday, February 21, Kourash suggested that Rodriguez join a two-week Bible study course that was beginning in just over a week's time on Monday, March 1. After completing the course, Rodriguez could move into the compound as part of becoming a Branch Division. Joining the Branch Dividians and to living at Mount Carmel would give Robert Rodriguez complete access to the inside of the compound, allowing him to provide a detailed description of its layout to his superiors. He proposed that he take Kourash up on his offer, but his proposal was rejected. The ATF already had another plan. While the undercover operation had been getting underway, tactical leaders at the agency had been developing plans for how they would serve search warrants at the property. They wanted the operation to be seamless. Recently, the ATF had been on the receiving end of negative publicity from all sides. Derribi Ridge Siege had led to strong criticism from the public and conservative politicians who were already disinclined to like the agency. Late in 1992, reports that female ATF agents had been sexually harassed by male colleagues led to negative attention from the political left as well. There were rumors that the newly elected US President Bill Clinton wanted to merge the ATF with the FBI. The ATF's officials wanted to improve their optics. They needed a big win that would reflect well on their work. They had hopes that win would be a successful raid of the branch dividend compound. Ideally, they would just arrest the David Kourash away from the compound when he left to conduct business elsewhere. That would ensure the safety of the many followers who lived at Mount Carmel. But the ATF received inaccurate reports that Kourash never left the compound, so they didn't put together a plan for how such an arrest might be achieved. Usually, the ATF used one of two methods when conducting a raid. The first was dubbed "surround and call out" where they would approach a residence and call out to its occupants to surrender peacefully. The other was known as a dynamic entry and involved bursting into a location before the suspects inside had time to prepare. Everything the ATF thought they knew about the branch dividends made the first option a no-go. There was fear they might destroy evidence, use their firearms to attack or enact a mass suicide rather than surrender. They also had enough food in the form of military style ready to eat meals to sustain them for months. The problem with the dynamic entry was that Mount Carmel was in a difficult spot to launch a surprise attack. It sat on top of a small hill with no ground cover around it. Any approach by the ATF would be seen by the branch dividends before they arrived. Even though Karash kept strict controls over the group's firearms and they were locked away when not in use, they'd still have time to grab their weapons. Then they could fire at approaching agents who'd be left completely exposed. Plus, there were many women and children who lived at the property. The last thing the ATF wanted was another situation where innocent civilians were killed. Intelligence gathered by Agent Aguilera helped them come up with an alternative idea. He'd learnt that every morning of the week, except for Saturdays, the men at the compound went outside by 10 am at the latest and worked on excavating a large pit, intended as a tornado shoulder. Maybe the ATF could catch them by surprise before they had time to grab weapons from the compound by driving up in pickup trucks with cattle trailers hitched to the back. That would make them look like regular road users instead of law enforcement. When the branch dividends saw them heading up the driveway, they would probably assume they'd just taken a wrong turn. It was decided that helicopters would also fly overhead as a kind of diversion from the pickup trucks. Snippers would also take up position in the undercover agent's house nearby, just in case. As the pickup trucks pulled up, agents would burst out from the cattle trailers and subdue the men at the pit. Another group would climb into the compound via a ladder to secure the gun room inside, making sure no one else could gain access. Meanwhile, other agents would announce themselves at the front door, then use a battering ramp to gain entrance. Female ATF agents would hurt the women and children together and keep them calm in a separate area of the compound. After the scene was contained, the agents would search the compound and seize illegally converted weapons, along with any other elicit materials they might find. 76 ATF agents would participate in the raid, and about a week later. But half of these were members of the agency's elite tactical units known as the special response teams, or SRTs. Agents from all over the country would arrive in Texas several days beforehand to be deployed at Fort Hood Army Base for briefings, special training exercises and rehearsals. Then they would be relocated to Waco the night before the scheduled raid. It would be the biggest raid in the agency's history and was dubbed Operation Trojan Horse. The go-word to signal the launch of the raid was Showtime. The ATF director signed off on the plan in mid-February and Operation Trojan Horse was scheduled for Monday March 1, until a last minute complication changed everything. By early 1993, branched dividends had been making occasional headlines in the Waco Tribune Herald for a number of years. The newspaper had covered the 1988 trial of eight branched dividends for attempted murder, and in April 1992, they ran several articles about a mass suicide that was rumored to be planned at Mount Carmel. Stories about so-called cult groups always attracted interest from readers and made for a change of pace to the usual daily news. Mark England and the Darlene McCormick were the journalists of the Waco Tribune Herald known to cover the branched dividends. In October 1992, they received reports from sources that the group was being investigated by the federal government for possessing illegal weapons. When Darlene McCormick dug deeper into the matter, one of her sources told her how David Kuresh had claimed the divine right to take every man's wife. They also alleged that he had boasted of having sex with underage girls and hit abused children both physically and psychologically. Darlene McCormick and Mark England began putting together an investigative series on the branched dividends. It was ready for publication by early January 1993, but its release was postponed after ATF officials confirmed with the newspaper that a raid was being planned. The agency wanted the paper to hold off on publication until after the raid. They initially told the editors that the raid would happen on February 22, then changed it to March 1, and then moved it to an indefinite date. After much back and forth, the agency refused to provide an exact date for the operation, or even a window for when it was likely to occur. Tired of holding off on the story and believing the public had a right to know what was being alleged about the church group, the Waco Tribune Herald published the first article in the series on Saturday, February 27, 1993. Under the headline of this sinful Messiah, the article opened with the words, "If you are a branched dividend, Christ lives on a threadbare piece of land 10 miles east of Waco called Mount Carmel." He has dimples, claims a ninth grade education, married his legal wife when she was 14, enjoys a beer now and then, plays a mean guitar, reportedly packs a 9mm block and keeps an arsenal of military assault rifles, and willingly admits that he is a sinner without equal. Spread across three pages, the article went on to outline the allegations against 33-year-old David Kuresh, noting that authorities have done little to prosecute Kuresh for his alleged crimes. It described how many former members had left the group, but that Kuresh remains with about 75 faithful in a compound they built to await the end of the world. Former cult members and authorities say it is heavily armed. The newspaper also ran an editorial, imploring local authorities to take action against Kuresh. The ATF had originally planned to execute the raid on Monday, March 1. After learning that the Waco Tribune Herald was beginning a series about the branched dividends two days before the intended raid, the ATF decided to change their plans. Worried, the articles might make the branched dividends Kagerh and more alert to danger than usual, they would bring the raid forward. It couldn't move it to the day of the article's publication as most of the agents participating in the operation would have only just arrived and needed more time to prepare. Instead, the raid would take place the day after the story ran on Sunday, February 28. On Saturday, February 27, undercover agent Robert Rodriguez visited Mount Carmore with a copy of the paper to show the group. After David Kuresh read the articles, he seemed concerned. At a sermon in the chapel that day, Kuresh spoke about the coverage and how an attack from Babylon was clearly impending, adding, "Now for sure, they'll be coming. Remember what I taught, how we have rehearsed." It seemed as though Kuresh was clearly anticipating some kind of intervention. Agent Rodriguez reported back to his superiors stating that while Kuresh and his followers had been unhappy about the articles, they'd still gone about their usual routine. He also noted that he hadn't seen any guns out while at the compound. This seemed reassuring. Rodriguez's superiors told him to return to Mount Carmore early the next morning before the raid to gauge the goings on there. Sunday, February 28, was a chilly morning with light rain. At 8am, agent Robert Rodriguez returned to Mount Carmore with copies of that day's Waco Tribune Herald. Everything seemed normal, with no sign of any preparations for an attack. He chatted with Kuresh in the front compound area. After reading the articles, David Kuresh decided he wanted more copies of the paper, so he asked his brother-in-law David Jones to go to the store and buy some. David was employed as a postal worker and he drove a yellow Buick with the words "US Mail" painted on the door. At about 8.30am, David Jones drove away from Mount Carmore. As David drove along Old Mahaya Road towards Waco, he spotted a car pulled over the side of the road. Standing next to the car was a man wearing a windbreaker jacket emblazoned with the letters "KWTX", the name of a local television station. David pulled over and asked if there was a problem. The man introduced himself as Jim Peeler, a TV news camera man. He said he was looking for a nearby compound called Mount Carmore, but he was lost. Thinking he was just talking to a US postal worker, Jim explained that he needed to film an important police raid that was about to take place. David Jones pointed out where the compound was. Then he got back into his car, did a U-turn, and sped back to Mount Carmore. David Jones burst back into the compound just 15 minutes after he left. He saw that David Kuresh was still speaking to Agent Rodriguez in the front compound area. Although Rodriguez believed he'd successfully infiltrated the branch divisions with an undercover persona, the truth was that they had known he belonged to law enforcement right from the start. The entire household of undercover agents had stood out like a sore thumb. Despite saying they were students, the eight men looked too old to be in college and had the clean cut look of law enforcement agents. They drove new model cars, and when they'd hosted a house party, they kept most of the doors inside, firmly closed. The branch divisions had realised who they really were, and some had discouraged David Kuresh from welcoming Agent Rodriguez to their home. Kuresh had simply reminded them that the Gospels told of Jesus befriending a Roman centurion. Knowing that Rodriguez was with the ATF, David Jones didn't want him to know that he was now aware of the impending raid. So instead of approaching Kuresh, he whispered the information to his father, Perry Jones, who then summoned Kuresh to another room by pretending he had a phone call. After speaking with Perry Jones for a few minutes, David Kuresh returned and approached Agent Rodriguez, who could immediately see that something was wrong. Kuresh was physically shaking and had dropped a Bible he was carrying. Nervously, he told Rodriguez, "They got me once, and they'll never get me again." He then walked to a window and gazed out across the long driveway before moving to another window. After staring outside for some time, Koresh turned back to Rodriguez and said, "They're coming, Robert. The time has come." Understanding that Koresh had somehow found out about the imminent raid, Rodriguez knew he had to leave the compound. Meanwhile, more and more branched the vidians were gathering in the room, watching and listening to the goings-on. Agent Rodriguez told Koresh he had to leave and meet someone for breakfast. Koresh shook his hand and added, "Okay, Robert, good luck." Rodriguez exited the compound, terrified that someone might shoot him from behind as he walked to his car. Following to hide his fear, he walked the 30-foot distance to where he'd parked, glancing at the end of the driveway towards the undercover house as he did serve. He was shocked to see that all of the house's windows were open, with cameras and snipers clearly visible inside. If any of the branched vidians walked outside, they would be able to see that too. Rodriguez made it to his car and drove down the long driveway back to the undercover house. Once he was inside, he called Ray DeLita and operations' second-in-command Chuck Sarraban, who was stationed at the ATF's command post about eight miles away. Frantically, Rodriguez explained how their cover was blown and Koresh knew they were coming. In response, Agent Sarraban asked if Rodriguez had seen any guns out while inside the compound. Rodriguez said he hadn't and DeLita had Koresh responded to the news with a call to arms. He had just been shaking and reading the Bible. Nevertheless, Rodriguez still hoped that the raid would be called off. But instead, Agent Sarraban decided, "I think it'll be okay if we go quickly." Case file will be back shortly. At 9pm, Agent Chuck Sarraban arrived at the staging area where the agents participating in the raid were waiting. "Get geared up. We've got to go now," he shouted. "They know ATF and the National Guard are coming. We're going to hit them now." He ran to agents milling about the parking lot and to others waiting inside, urging all of them to hurry. Within 15 minutes of Sarraban's arrival at the staging area, the ATF's special response and arrest teams were geared up and crammed into the two cattle trailers that would transport them to Mount Carmel. Space inside the trailers was tight and the agents were sardined together. Some of the agents felt confident while others were apprehensive about going ahead with the raid if the element of surprise was gone. But none felt it would be appropriate to question a decision made by the higher ups. The mood inside the trailers was later described as "uncharacteristically somber." And Sarraban rode in the truck pulling the first trailer and maintained cellular contact with agent James Kavanaugh, who was one of the top officials waiting in the undercover house. Agent Kavanaugh kept Sarraban up to date on the scene at Mount Carmel. He reported that there were no signs of any branched dividends. Everyone must have been inside. When the trucks with the two cattle trailers pulled up to the Mount Carmel driveway at around 9.45am, the mood was eerily quiet. There's no one outside, one agent radioed. That's not good, another replied. At the same time as the trucks arrived, three helicopters sent by the National Guard approached the rear of the compound. They were supposed to bear diversion, but had arrived too late, failing to have the intended impact. One was a Black Hawk with 5 ATF agents and a National Guard pilot inside. The other two were smaller models, also piloted by National Guard pilots, and with ATF Operation Commander Phil Hoynatsky riding as a passenger in one. Meanwhile, the trucks had parked in front of the compound's main building as per the plan. Then the agents began to climb out. The first two emerged were those tasked with fending off the compound's dogs, which were kept in a pen by the front entrance. The branched dividends had five dogs, an 80-pound brown malamute named Fawn and her four 10-month-old puppies. The ATF dog team had fire extinguishes to keep the dogs at bay, as well as shotguns just in case. One agent immediately discharged a fire extinguisher at the dogs, while another approached the compound gate. David Kuresh suddenly appeared in the front double doorway and called out, "What's going on?" The agents identified themselves, calling out that they had a warrant and ordering Kuresh to freeze and get down. Kuresh slammed the door shut and disappeared. Accounts of the following events vary, and there are some discrepancies between the government's version of events and the branched dividends. Kathy Schroder, a branched dividend, would allow to say that she had been looking down from her second floor bedroom window when the ATF trailers arrived. She was hiding up there with her four kids, with Kuresh having told the women and children to go to their rooms. Kathy's room looked out directly over the dog pen. According to her memory, the first gunshots of that day were the ATF agents firing shots at four and her parts almost immediately upon arrival, killing the five dogs. Then, after that, there was a lot of shooting. She told author Jeff Gwynn. Branched the dividend David Tibido wrote in his memoir that he ran into the foyer, just as David Kuresh was slamming the double door shot, and bullets were being fired at the doors by ATF agents outside. In David's view, the shots that followed from inside the compound were a natural attempt at self-defense by the branched dividends, who would arm to themselves with nine millimeter pistols and automatic and semi-automatic assault rifles over the preceding hour. ATF agents said that it was the other way around. The first gunshots rang out from inside the compound, as soon as David Kuresh disappeared behind the front door. The gunfire was shot through the door so heavily that the door bowed outward. The agent standing closest to the door was shot in the thumb before diving for cover in any by pit. Other agents still emerging from the trailers became caught up in the gunfire as well. The initial shots from the doorway were followed by shots from windows all along the first and second floors. Once punctured the trailers canvas coverings and pinged off the metal poles along the sides. Some hit ATF agents. The ATF's version of events has been supported by members of the media who were watching the scene unfold from a ditch on double-lay Ranch Road. Several reporters and a cameraman all said that the shooting started from inside the compound, when the doors slammed shut. The helicopters that had arrived at the compound at the same time as the trailers were targets too. Official government reports note that when the helicopters were roughly 350 metres from the back of the compound, they were fired upon. This forced them to pull back, but it was too late for them to warn the agents in the trailers to abort the raid. Two of the helicopters landed in a nearby field to check for damage, while the third remained hovering above. All three had been struck by bullets. None of the helicopters were fitted out with mounted guns and the pilots were certain none of the agents on board had fired any shots. Plus, they only carried side-arms, which would have had little impact when fired from such a height. However, several Branch Dominions have said they were fired on from above, with the roof of the compound's tower being riddled with bullets. This account was later supported by the Branch Dominions lawyer, Dick DeGaren, who entered the compound some weeks later. On the ground, ATF agents took cover behind the trucks and behind the Branch Dominions cars and vans parked nearby. [BLANK_AUDIO] agent who hid behind a white van with several colleagues later said that the van seemed to bounce from all of the bullets hitting it. Other agents ducked behind an old air conditioning unit that lay abandoned outside. Others crawled up to the base of the compound building, pressing themselves low against the walls. When they looked up, they could see gum barrels poking out of the windows above. Once they had cover, they began firing back. They did admit to shooting the compound's dogs, but only after they were fired at first. The ATF agents weren't as well armed as the branched dividends. Most had a German 9mm submachine gun known as an MP5. Some only had their handguns and a few had shotguns. Six had AR-15s. When the chaos and smoke of the gun battle, they could see little of the people they were firing at. Within a few minutes, most of the ATF agents had spent all of their ammunition. They began shouting to their colleagues over the gunfire and the sound of the helicopter, asking them to ration their bullets. At one point, a branched dividend inside the compound began firing with one of the 50 caliber rifles. An agent told author, Jeff Gwynn, how its bullets tore chunks as large as cantaloupes from the ground. When they hit the cars outside, chunks of the engines flew off and ripped into the agent's legs. Branched dividends also tossed hand grenades down from the windows, spraying agents with shrapnel. Sixteen ATF agents were injured. One was shot five times, but survived. Some sustained leg wounds, with one agent being hit in both legs. Several others were pinned down behind a shed, when another agent staggered over and collapsed on top of them, his arm bleeding profusely. An agent who was also a medic, braved gunfire to try and reach his fallen colleagues, only to have his medical bags shot out of his hands by bullets from a 50 caliber weapon. He attempted to go to the aid of a 32 year old agent named Steve Willis, who'd taken cover behind a van when he was shot through the head. Willis died at the scene. Meanwhile, the ATF pushed forward to complete their mission, with a team of seven agents hauling ladders through the gunfire to the east side of the building. They had been tasked with climbing into the compound to gain access to David Koresh's bedroom and the gun room. Their intelligence from former Branch Dividends who to left the group was that all of the weapons were kept in the same room on the upper floor. The agents raised the ladders several meters apart, giving them access to the roof. Special agents Conway LaBlue, Todd McKayne, Kenny King and David Millon, climbed up to enter Koresh's bedroom. 36 year old LaBlue made it up their first and held up his shotgun to provide cover for the others. David Millon approached Koresh's bedroom window, using a breaching tool to smash the glass and clear away the remaining shards. As he did, gunfire exploded from the room, hitting Kenny King four times. 28 year old Todd McKayne was struck in the chest and died immediately. King tried to reach him but was hit twice more. He rolled off the roof and landed in a courtyard near the back of the compound. He would lie there bleeding for nearly two hours. Millon rolled away towards LaBlue and they began returning fire. They tried to provide cover for the second team of three who were headed for the gun room. Special agents Bill Buford, Keith Constantino and Glenn Jordan had successfully entered their window, tossing a destruction device inside before crawling through. But a branched dividends stood in the doorway and fired at them. The agents shot back and he vanished, before more shots peppered the gun room's walls. Some of the shots passed through to the outside roof area where agent Millon still stood. He slid down the ladder to the ground to escape. Buford and Jordan were both hit. They escaped through the window, dove onto the roof and slid down to the ground. Buford was struck in the face by a bullet as he lay on the ground. Another agent lay over him for protection then managed to pull him to safety. Meanwhile, agent Constantino was still in the gun room where the firing had stopped after his injured colleagues fled. As he tried to decide what to do, a branched dividend appeared and shot at him. Constantino returned fire. The man fell and Constantino ran for the window, hitting his head on the way out. Daysed, he rolled off the roof and sustained severe injuries to his hip, leg and knees. He was dragged out of the line of fire. Agents Millon and LaBlue were still on the roof. Millon clandered down the ladder, safely reaching the ground as LaBlue provided cover for him. LaBlue was then shot before he could climb down and his lifeless body fell near Todd McKayons. Special agent Robert Williams, aged 27, had been providing cover from the ground for his colleagues climbing the roof, but intense gunfire forced him to seek shelter behind a large metal object that lay on the ground. A few seconds passed with no shooting. Robert Williams held his MP5 up when he was suddenly struck by a bullet from a high-calibre weapon, dying instantly. People were dying inside the compound too. The JD Wendell, a 34-year-old former policewoman who joined the branch dividends, rubbed her children in mattresses for protection, then began firing shots down at the ATF agents below. She kept leaning out of the window to aim at them. The snipers positioned in the undercover house shot at JD as she leaned out too far, and she fell back to the floor, dead. The children stayed hidden beneath the mattresses, too scared to emerge. A 24-year-old Australian branch dividend named Peter Jant had taken up a sniper position in the water tower. He posed the biggest danger to the agents below, as he was in the perfect position to shoot at them over and over. They fired back at him repeatedly until he was killed. A 28-year-old British national Winston Blake was killed in the kitchen after being shot in the head. Others were injured. Judy Schneider, the 41-year-old wife of Koresh's second-in-command Steve Schneider, and the mother of one of Koresh's children, was shot through her bedroom window. The bullet struck her right forefinger and shoulder. His brother-in-law David Jones was also injured, as was Scott Sonobi, the branch dividend who'd fired on ATF agents in the gun room. Peter Hipsman, 28, was struck in his side, which caused a major internal damage to his abdomen. He repeatedly begged for someone to amd his suffering, and another branch dividend later did as he requested, shooting him twice in the back of the head. Every Jones, David Koresh's father-in-law was also shot in the abdomen during the beginning of the siege when ATF agents fired at the front double doors. The 64-year-old was seen crawling on his hands and knees, screaming that he had been shot and begging to be killed. He was also subsequently mercy-killed. Despite being the target of the ATF's initial gunfire, David Koresh had avoided being shot while standing at the double doors. He was wearing a protective vest and carrying a rifle as he roamed throughout the compound over the course of the siege. About 45 minutes after the first shots were fired, two ATF agents gained access to the compound entering via the rear-first floor. A lone branch dividend fired on them from a catwalk above, while shouts of cease-fire began to ring out through the compound. The ATF agents couldn't see who exactly was shooting at them, but it was David Koresh. They shot back, striking his left hip bone, left wrist and thumb. Koresh crawled away, badly injured. The calls for a cease-fire had been a long time coming. The alarm had first been raised just three minutes into the siege, when branched Davidian Wayne Martin ran to his office on the first floor to call 9-1-1. A half at a law graduate and one of Koresh's in a circle, Wayne sounded distraught as his call was picked up by Lieutenant Larry Lynch of the McClellan County Sheriff's Department. Hello, hello, yeah this is Lieutenant Lynch, my happiness. Yeah, there's 75 men around our building, and there's two men at us and now common. Now common. Yeah, tell them they're children and women in here to call it off. All right, all right, uh, you know. I hear gunfire. Oh, shit, you know, clear it. You know, call it off. Upon learning of the gunfire at Mount Carmel, Lieutenant Lynch muttered, God almighty, that fucking newspaper, assuming the issue was connected to the ongoing series by the wayco Tribune Herald. Wayne Martin set the phone down and the call ultimately disconnected after about 13 minutes. Lieutenant Lynch was able to call Wayne Martin back, who shouted down the phone. Tell them to fall back. We've got women and children in danger. Call them off. We're under fire. Lieutenant Lynch asked who was firing at them and ordered Wayne not to fire back. We haven't been Wayne said. While keeping the line open with Wayne, Lieutenant Lynch began trying to call the ATF. The sheriff's department had been aware of the ATF's investigation into the branch dividends and their undercover house across the road. Lieutenant Lynch was able to make contact with the ATF's operation commander, Phil Hoennatsky, who had been in one of the helicopters. He began acting as a messenger between Wayne Martin and the ATF, desperately trying to arrange a ceasefire. He asked Wayne to stop the branch dividend shooting while arranging with agent Hoennatsky for the ATF agents to do the same. At 10.34 a.m., after the shooting had been going on for over 45 minutes, Wayne Martin told Lynch that someone else wanted to talk to him. David Karrash picked up the phone and told the lieutenant, "We've known about this. I've been teaching about it for four years. We knew you were coming and everything." When Karrash began quoting the Bible and discussing his theories about the seven seals, Lynch demanded that he stop talking about religion and focus on the urgent matter at hand. He asked Karrash to call a ceasefire, which Karrash said he would consider. Meanwhile, agent James Kavanaugh in the undercover house also tried to call the compound. After the phone rang for a long time without answer, it was picked up by Karrash's second-in-command, Steve Schneider. Agent Kavanaugh could hear screaming and crying in the background. Steve Schneider was angry and it took the agent a few minutes to calm him down. When Steve had calmed somewhat, agent Kavanaugh proposed the ceasefire. Steve was receptive given that people inside the compound, including his wife, were wounded. He began making his way through the building, telling people to stop shooting, with the shouts of ceasefire echoing through the halls of Mount Carmel. It took several minutes for the shooting to ease due to the sprawling layout of the compound, and the fact that the branch dividians were deafened and shocked by the almost hour-long shootout. Agent Kavanaugh advised his team leaders to tell the agents the same thing, but the delay in the message being communicated through out Mount Carmel made the agent's nervous that the whole thing was a trick. The lack of trust on both sides led to the shooting resuming. Many of the ATF agents were almost out of ammunition, while the branch dividians had a seemingly endless supply. A second ceasefire was attempted, and then a third, before the shooting finally stopped at 11.39am. Rather than being the successful public image-boosting operation the ATF had hoped for, Operation Trojan Horse had been an unmitigated disaster, leading to multiple deaths and an ongoing crisis with no clear resolution inside. Additional law enforcement agencies would now be drawn into the standoff, including the Texas Rangers and the FBI. Agent Kavanaugh negotiated for the ATF agents to retrieve their fallen comrades before withdrawing and leaving the compound. This included Agent Kenny King, who had rolled from the roof and delay bleeding in a rear courtyard for two hours. He was carried from the grounds on one of the ladders. The retreating agents had to raise their hands and slowly begin exiting the compound without making any sudden movements. The cease-themed badly injured agents were placed into vehicles to be driven from the property, while the remaining agents walked away on foot. A news cameraman who'd filmed part of the botched raid from the front of the compound captured footage of the defeated agents limping down Mt. Carmel's driveway. When he began to film the bodies of those who had died, some of the ATF agents and members of local law enforcement shouted at him and pushed him to the ground. ATF agents were subsequently joined by Texas Rangers and highway patrol officers in setting up perimeters around Mt. Carmel. Late in the afternoon, nearly six hours after the shootout, some ATF agents were sent out to set up a skirmish line around the compound, scouting the area. Several of them were crossing a field about 350 yards behind Mt. Carmel when they came across three branched civilians attempting to enter the compound. Mike Schroeder, Norman Allison and Bob Kendrick lived in the mag bag building several miles away. They'd caught wind of what had been going on at Mt. Carmel and wanted to stand alongside their fellow branched dividends. They drove towards a nearby trailer where several elderly branched dividend women lived, about two miles from the compound, then walked the rest of the way. Bob Kendrick had heart disease and struggled to keep up, eventually giving up on his mission, but Mike and Norman carried on. One of the ATF agents said he ordered the man to show their hands and 29-year-old Mike Schroeder responded by shooting at them. The agents fired back, killing him, Norman surrendered. The branched dividend death toll had increased by one. Inside the compound, there was some brief celebration when law enforcement initially retreated, followed by anxiety that they would soon return. The branched dividends were also dismayed to discover that their leader had been badly wounded. David Karrash was lying on blankets in an upstairs hallway, shaking and drifting in and out of consciousness. His eyes kept a rolling back in his head, his skin was deathly pale, and his glasses were fogging up with sweat due to a fever. Karrash and all of his followers believed that he was about to die. He called his mother to say goodbye, leaving a message on her answering machine. "I'll be back real soon, okay," he said. "I'm sorry you didn't learn the seals, but I'll be merciful, okay? I'll see you all in the skies." However, several hours passed and Karrash remained alive. Ultimately, he decided that God didn't want any more branched dividends to die just yet. They would still have to face off against the forces of Babylon for the final battle, but Karrash couldn't say exactly when that would be. The ATF reestablished contact with the compound by the early afternoon after Steve Schneider called officials to talk. When they learned that David Karrash had been injured, they offered descent in medical assistance. Karrash refused. The officials tried to find out exactly how many people were inside the compound and how many were injured. What were their names and ages? But Karrash wouldn't provide that information. He wanted the broadcast his religious teachings over local radio before he or anyone else would leave the compound. Negotiators agreed, and at 4 p.m., Karrash issued a broadcast over the Dallas Radio Station, KRLD. It was replayed twice over the following hour. The ATF agents continued trying to coax David Karrash out, but he abruptly cut off communication with them at 6.14 p.m. He then made calls to cable news station CNN, giving an interview about the days' events. The standoff was making news across the country and public interest was high. They fired on us first, Karrash told CNN. I never planned to use the weapons. The problem is that people outside don't understand what we believe. He also claimed a two-year-old child had been shot and killed, which was not true. Contact with the ATF resumed later that evening. Though the ATF had no trained negotiate. They did their best to reason with David Kourash, pleading with him to release the compounds children to relatives or friends on the outside who would take good care of them. To everyone's surprise, Kourash agreed. By midnight, he sent four children out of the compound with notes pinned to their clothing, detailing contact information for their temporary guardians. The ATF wouldn't be managing the situation for much longer. The death of four federal agents meant that the FBI would be stepping in, deploying about 20 highly trained negotiators and their hostage rescue team, an elite tactical unit experienced in managing hostage crises. At 9.30am on Monday, March 1, the director of the ATF made the official decision to hand over the scene to the FBI. Agents from the FBI had started arriving in Waco the previous night, with more arriving throughout the morning. Their leaders and negotiators would be based at a command post close to Mt. Carmel in an aeroplane hangar about five and a half miles from the scene, while other agents would have boots closer to the ground. Their first priority was to control the inner perimeter around the compound. Their second was to set up a central negotiation channel. In order to restrict the branch/dividends communications to them and to them alone, they cut off all but two of the compound's phone lines and disabled them from calling any number other than theirs. This would prevent the lines being tied up by media outlets seeking interviews or exclusives from the branch/dividends. The FBI negotiation team set up long-naro barracks where they would be working from, a large open space with a small room where the telephones were set up. The Bureau's chief negotiator Gary Nasner took over from ATF agent James Kavanaugh, who introduced him to Koresh over the phone. Gary Nasner spoke with Koresh regularly throughout Monday, March 1. The two established a decent rapport despite Koresh telling Agent Nasner were not ready to come out. However, he did agree to release more children from the compound. During the course of the day, 10 further children left Mount Carmel, aged between 5 months and 11 years old. None of the children sent out of the compound were David Koresh's offspring. Agent Gary Nasner could see that Koresh wouldn't agree to an entire surrender, but he hoped that he might be convinced to keep sending out branched/dividends in smaller groups. Although Koresh was angry about the compound's phone lines being cut off to everyone other than the FBI, he continued talking with the authorities. He repeatedly assured them that the group had no intention of taking their own lives. In fact, he explained that they needed to stay alive so that they could deliver their message to the outside world. The FBI negotiators found David Koresh to be a puzzling character. They were accustomed to coaxing out bank robbers and political terrorists. Koresh's siding of scripture and desire to discuss biblical prophecy was an entirely new experience for them, and one they weren't sure how to take. Byron Sage, one of the chief negotiators of the scene, would a later told journalists from Frontline. There had been some question, are we dealing with a delusional personality, or are we dealing with a conman? Does this guy think he's Jesus Christ, or is he just a conman who's using religion to deceive all the rest of the people inside? Deciding to take Koresh's proclamations at face value, the FBI continued with the strategy that had shown some progress thus far. They would offer him more opportunities to broadcast his message in exchange for more surrenders. Perhaps if he was given a national platform rather than just a local one, Koresh could be convinced to leave the compound. Shortly after 10 p.m. on Monday March 1, David Koresh made the FBI an offer. If they allowed him to deliver a nationwide broadcast about the book of Revelation, then he and all of his followers would surrender peacefully. Gary Nessner proposed that Koresh record his message using a tape recorder, with a statement at the beginning promising to leave Mount Carmel after the message was broadcast. After negotiating throughout the night, Koresh agreed to this proposal early on Tuesday morning. He recorded his message and sent it out for the FBI to review. It was 57 minutes long, the entirety of which was a sermon about the book of Revelation. After some further negotiations and tweaking of Koresh's message, the FBI gave their approval. They arranged for the tape to be played uncut via the Christian Broadcasting Network television station at around lunchtime. As a show of good faith, David Koresh sent out four more children and two women in their 70s who lived in the trailer adjacent to the compound. Spirits were higher. The initially tense and violent standoff looked to becoming to a peaceful land. At 1.32pm on Tuesday, March 2, Koresh's sermon was played on the Christian Broadcasting Network. It began with Koresh stating, "I agree that upon the broadcasting of this tape to come out peacefully with all the people immediately. My name is David Koresh and I am speaking to you from Mount Carmel Centre." As it was delivered into homes all across the United States, the FBI continued working out the logistics of the surrender plan with Koresh. They would deliver a stretcher to the compound's front doors so that the injured Koresh could be stretched out. He would be the first to leave with four men carrying him. A number of women and children would follow, then Steve Schneider would coordinate for the remaining people to leave, sending out one person every two to three minutes. By 3pm, the FBI's hostage rescue team buses were in place, ready to escort the branch dividends from the property. Laboratory personnel stood by, preparing to process the crime scene inside the building. Inside the compound, the branch dividends packed their bags in preparation to leave. Over the next hour and 45 minutes, Koresh and several of his followers repeatedly reassured the FBI that their surrender was imminent. Steve Schneider explained that they were just trying to stretcher the injured Koresh downstairs to the lower level. Everyone's lined up with their stuff, ready to go out. He told Gary Messner in a relieved sounding voice. Stephen was standing near the front doors, wearing their coats and holding prized possessions, such as teddy bears. Many members were emotional, exchanging hugs and tears with Koresh as they braced themselves to leave. A little while later, Agent Messner spoke to Steve Schneider again. Steve explained that Koresh just wanted to deliver one final Bible study lesson before they left. The FBI was reassured, as such an action seemed to be consistent with Koresh's character. It seemed like they were nilly there. At 5.59 p.m., the negotiators called into the compound again. Steve Schneider answered the phone, and this time, his words filled the negotiators with a dread. "The Lord spoke to David," Steve said. The Lord told David to wait, not to come out. "The Lord spoke to David," Steve said.