This identification allowed Koresh to justify some of his controversial (even within the sect) practices, including taking various “spiritual wives,” some reportedly as young as 11 years old.Īs time wore on, the negotiators and the Hostage Rescue Team, which handled all the tactical maneuvers, disagreed on how to handle the siege. To the Branch Davidians, Koresh was “the Lamb,” the only one (according to the Book of Revelation) worthy of unlocking the Seven Seals and revealing to the world the entirety of the Bible’s teachings. He threatened violence against those who would attack him and his family, but asserted that the Davidians weren’t planning a mass suicide. In his negotiations with the FBI during the Waco siege, Koresh claimed he was a messianic figure prophesied in the Bible and that God had given him his surname. (“Koresh” is the Hebrew translation of Cyrus, the ancient Persian king who conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Israel.) Koresh and the FBI The seven other men were acquitted, and Howell’s case ended in a mistrial.īy 1990, having asserted control over the Branch Davidians, Howell legally changed his name to David Koresh. In a gun battle in late 1987, George Roden was shot in the head and chest, and Howell and seven followers went on trial for attempted murder. In 1981, a 22-year-old convert named Vernon Wayne Howell arrived at Mount Carmel he became involved with Lois Roden, and after her death clashed with her son, George, over control. Roden died in 1978, leaving his wife, Lois, as head prophetess of the sect. After Houteff’s death, Ben Roden led an offshoot of the movement known as the Branch Davidians, who took control of Houteff’s original settlement at Mount Carmel, near Waco, by 1962.īelieving the Bible is literally the word of God, the Branch Davidians looked to it for clues about the end of the world and Christ’s Second Coming, as told in the Book of Revelation. In the 1930s, a disgruntled member of the Seventh-Day Adventist Church named Victor Houteff had broken away and founded the Davidian movement. Despite some early negotiating successes-the Davidians sent about 2 dozen children out in exchange for food and other supplies-numerous children remained among those inside, many of them Koresh’s children with various women. Reporters soon arrived on the scene as well, and the 51-day siege that followed would play out on TV screens and in newspaper headlines around the world. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) raided a religious compound at Mount Carmel, near Waco, Texas, after receiving reports that the Branch Davidians and their leader, David Koresh, were violating federal firearms regulations.Īfter four ATF agents and six Davidians were killed in the gun battle that followed, a cease-fire was arranged, and nearly 900 law enforcement officials eventually surrounded the compound, including hostage negotiators and rescue teams from the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI). On February 28, 1993, some 80 agents from the U.S.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |