It has now been 30 years since a cult in Texas found itself at thewhich would eventually leave nearly 90 people dead.
On February 28, 1993, a team from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms obtained a search warrant for a compound near the town of Waco, where members of the religious cult the Branch Davidians had allegedly been not only stockpiling weapons, but making their own.
However, an intense gunfight erupted at the Mount Carmel Centre ranch when the warrant was executed, which lead to the deaths of four ATF agents and six Branch Davidians, sparking a siege that would last for 51 days.
By the time it all ended, the FBI had been called in, the compound had been burnt to the ground, and 86 people, including 26 children, were also added to the .
Among the dead was David Koresh, the leader of the cult, who was Ki**ed not by the flames, but by a gunshot wound.
Claiming to be the prophet, Koresh had been accused of polygamy and child sexual abuse in the years prior to the siege, but authorities were never able to find any conclusive evidence.
Now, a new documentary, Waco: American Apocalypse, which would end up becoming the biggest gunfight on American soil since the Civil War, and the man at the centre of it all.
Who was David Koresh?
Born Vernon Wayne Howell in Houston in 1959, Koresh later changed his name in 1990 for ‘publicity and business purposes’.
His first name, David, symbolised a lineage to a biblical king, while his new surname was another biblical name of a Persian king who was named a messiah.
Having a lonely childhood, he turned to religion in his late teens, claiming to have become a born-again Christian in the Southern Baptist Church and soon joined his mother’s denomination, the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
It was there that he became infatuated with the pastor’s daughter and had an illegal sexual relationship with the 15-year-old girl, getting her pregnant before he was expelled from the congregation.
Koresh moved to Waco in 1981 where he joined the Branch Davidians, an apocalyptic new religious movement that had been founded in 1955.
Two years later he started claiming the gift of prophecy.Â
What was his role with the Branch Davidians?
Just a few years after joining the sect, Koresh started claiming that God had called him to father children to women in the group, including the widow of the man who established it.
Having an affair with the much older Lois Roden, Koresh later married a teenager called Rachel Jones, with whom he had three children.
Regularly butting heads with Lois’ adult son George Roden, he, with the support of the majority of the sect, eventually expelled Koresh and his group of followers off the property.
For two years they lived in tents and buses in an area 86 miles away, but when Roden was confined to a psychiatric facility after murdering a man with an axe, Koresh seized the opportunity to reclaim the Mount Carmel Centre.
Soon after he changed his name to reflect his growing authority.
How did he die?
Engaging in negotiations with the FBI throughout the 51 day-siege in Waco, Koresh delayed a surrender so he could allegedly write religious documents.
However, after U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno approved the recommendations of FBI officials to try and flush Koresh out of the compound, they resorted to pumping gas inside.
While the circumstances remain disputed by both sides, a fire somehow broke out and, barricaded inside the building, 79 Branch Davidians died in the ensuing blaze; 21 of these victims were children under the age of 16.
Koresh, who was 38, died of a gunshot wound to the head.
It is still unknown whether he committed suicide or if he was Ki**ed.
Waco: American Apocalypse is streaming on Netflix.
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