What Was the Waco Siege? Revisiting the 51-Day Standoff and Fire That Killed Nearly 80 Cult Members

Thirty-two years ago, nearly 80 people died as a result of the Waco Siege.

But where the responsibility of those deaths lies remains a point of contention between federal law enforcement and the last members of the religious cult they raided over three decades ago. 

In February 1993, agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) descended on the Branch Davidians’ compound outside of Waco, Texas, ready to raid their property for weapons and arrest their self-proclaimed prophet, David Koresh. But the group was tipped off and ambushed agents after they arrived. 

A 51-day standoff followed, with both agents and cult members becoming increasingly agitated at the lack of progress in their negotiations. Everything came to a head on April 19, 1993, when, after ATF agents deployed tear gas onto the compound, it suddenly went up in flames. 

When the fire died down, the bodies of 76 Branch Davidians were found, including over 20 children and Koresh. Though some of the survivors were convicted of voluntary manslaughter from the first shootout, no one has been held responsible for the mass casualties from the final day of the siege. 

Here’s everything to know about the Waco Siege — and why the remaining Branch Davidians still claim that the government was at fault. 

Who are the Branch Davidians?

The Branch Davidians are a religious sect formed in the 1950s whose members say they are preparing for the second coming of Jesus Christ, per the Texas State Historical Association.

Often regarded by the public as doomsday preppers, in the past, they believed in a “purified church” and avoided outsiders by building a self-sustaining community outside of Waco. 

When George Roden, the son of the group’s original leader, took over in 1985, a Bible teacher named Vernon Howell (who later went by David Koresh) challenged his claim at gunpoint. The men and their followers exchanged gunfire in 1987 when Koresh attempted to take over the Branch Davidians’ property called Mount Carmel. 

Roden was jailed, and Koresh secured control of the property by paying back taxes. 

Who was David Koresh?

Vernon Howell may have been his real name, but he was more commonly known as David Koresh. 

Originally from Houston, Koresh joined a Seventh-day Adventist Church in Tyler, Texas, when he was 20, per The New York Times. There, he dated the pastor’s 15-year-old daughter for two years before moving to Waco, where he took over the Branch Davidians. 

Clive Doyle, a Branch Davidian who survived the 1993 Waco Siege, later told PEOPLE that Koresh had a lifelong Bible fascination and “made the scriptures harmonize” and “come alive.” 

“I believe the spirit of God spoke through him,” Doyle said, adding that Koresh “spoke like no other prophet or no other preacher that we’d experienced in our whole lifetime.” 

To his followers, Koresh claimed he could talk to God and prophesied about Jesus Christ’s second coming. He also predicted that one day the U.S. government would attack him and his followers, and he began stockpiling weapons and ammunition. 

“He had preached that forces of evil were coming to get them and they would all be killed in a fiery ending and come back as the chosen, and our actions sort of validated his prophecy among his followers,” former FBI negotiator Byron Sage told PEOPLE.

What happened during the Waco Siege?

The ATF began investigating Koresh and the Branch Davidians in May 1992, believing the group had illegally manufactured weapons and destructive devices like machine guns, bombs and grenades. After months of probing, investigators had gathered enough evidence to arrest the cult leader and search the 77-acre Mount Carmel compound.  

On Feb. 28, 1993, ATF agents arrived at the property and were ambushed by armed cult members who had been hiding after a local postman, who was also Koresh’s brother-in-law, had tipped them off about the raid. 

Four ATF agents and six members of the group were killed in the ensuing two-hour gun battle. Koresh also sustained a gunshot wound to his side. After a ceasefire was called, he agreed to release some members (who were mostly children), but the doomsday prophet refused to come out, resulting in a 51-day standoff.  

In the weeks-long stalemate, the FBI used a variety of tactics to try to draw out the Branch Davidians from their compound, including blaring music in the middle of the night. Over 50 FBI negotiators had dozens of conversations with Koresh, whom Sage described as “totally different” than anyone they had faced before.

“This whole thing was horribly unprecedented as far as the nature and scope, the dynamic and deadliness,” the former negotiator said, adding that Koresh was “enamored” with the media attention he was receiving. “He was just relishing the notoriety.”

By mid-April, negotiations with Koresh started to wane. So on April 19, 1993, ATF agents rammed their tanks against the compound and deployed military tear gas after learning that the Davidians had planned to hold out for a year, per Frontline. 

Six hours after the gassing began, the property went up in flames.

How many people died during the Waco Siege?

In total, four federal agents were killed along with 76 Branch Davidians, including Koresh and over 20 children (some of whom he had fathered). 

While some people died in the fire of smoke inhalation, others, including the 33-year-old prophet, suffered fatal gunshot wounds. Sage said Koresh was shot once in “the center of his forehead.”

“Nobody knows how David died or who administered the coup de gras or anything like that. But I can tell you absolutely without hesitation that it was not us,” Sage claimed.

Who caused the fire during the Waco Siege?

The truth of who started the fire on April 19, 1993, has been a major point of contention between authorities and the Branch Davidians.

The FBI claimed that the religious group’s followers ignited three fires simultaneously, a finding reportedly agreed upon by outside investigators. Audio recorded by federal agents who had planted bugs in the compound via milk cartons allegedly picked up members saying that Koresh had told them to start pouring a substance, which investigators have assumed to be fuel.

However, some survivors still point their fingers at federal agents and believe that when they rammed the house with tanks, they knocked over kerosene lamps, which launched the blaze, per Texas Monthly.

Doyle, who was one of nine people to escape the compound fire while his daughter was killed, accused law enforcement of trying to pin the fire on him. “They wanted scapegoats to blame for this incident,” he claimed.

Of the nine people who survived the Waco Siege, eight were later convicted in federal court on charges of manslaughter or weapons offenses from the February 1993 shootout. NBC reported that six of those men were released from prison in 2006. 

In a subsequent investigation, the Departments of Treasury and Justice criticized the ATF for some of its tactics used during the Waco Siege. Ultimately, though, they concluded that the bureau was “made up of dedicated, committed and experienced professionals.” 

Do the Branch Davidians still exist?

Yes, a few remnant groups of Branch Davidians still exist — including those who remain loyal to Koresh and are still awaiting his resurrection.

“His prophecies failed repeatedly,” cult expert Rick Ross told PEOPLE in 2024. “But people who sacrificed their families, their lives, for David Koresh have chosen to continue to believe and kind of support each other in this belief in order to move on. The alternative for them is that all their sacrifices were made for nothing.”

Sheila Martin, a Koresh follower, told PEOPLE in 2017 that he “came to give us a message and a hope.” 

“We hope to see him again,” she said. “Our regret is only that we didn’t serve God better.”

As of 2018, a new branch of Davidians led by Charles Pace took over the former site of the Mount Carmel compound. The leader differentiated himself from the old group, telling PEOPLE that the Davidians under Koresh thought he “was God” and therefore were “a cult.”