Waco Siege
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Waco Siege
The Waco siege, also known as the Waco massacre, was the siege by US federal government and Texas state law enforcement officials of a compound belonging to the religious cult known as the Branch Davidians, between February 28 and April 19, 1993. The Branch Davidians, led by David Koresh, were headquartered at Mount Carmel Center ranch in unincorporated McLennan County, Texas, 13 miles (21 kilometers) northeast of Waco, Texas, Waco. Suspecting the group of stockpiling illegal weapons, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) obtained a search warrant for the compound and arrest warrants for Koresh and several of the group's members. The ATF had planned a sudden daylight raid of the ranch in order to serve these warrants. Any advantage of surprise was lost when a local reporter who had been tipped off about the raid asked for directions from a US Postal Service mail carrier who was coincidentally Koresh's brother-in-la ...
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Mount Carmel Center
The New Mount Carmel Center was a large group of buildings used by the Branch Davidian religious group located near Axtell, Texas, north-east of Waco. The Branch Davidians were established by Benjamin Roden in 1959 as a breakaway sect from Davidian Seventh-day Adventists, and was later led by David Koresh starting in the 1980s. Named after the Biblical mountain Mount Carmel in Israel, it was the site of the 51-day Waco siege. The siege began on February 28, 1993, when federal agents attempted to execute a warrant and arrest some Davidians living inside. A subsequent firefight left four Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents and six Davidians dead. At the end of the siege, on April 19, 1993, a fire started, leaving 76 Davidians dead. Etymology Some news reports about the siege referred to it as the " Branch Davidian compound". The name derives from a particular verse from the Bible, on which the Branch Davidians partially based their beliefs: History ...
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Jeff Jamar
Jeffrey John Jamar (born September 11, 1943, in Austin, Texas) is a retired Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Special Agent in Charge (SAC), who was in charge of an FBI squad in the 1993 Waco siege. Jamar retired from the FBI in December 1994 after 25 years in service *1982 - Informant Coordinator at FBI headquarters *1990 - SAC for the FBI's Minneapolis field office *1993 - SAC for the FBI's San Antonio field office On May 25, 1982, Jamar met with FBI agents Robert Fitzpatrick, Gerald Montanari, Robert McEleney, SAC Ed Enright, Randy Prillaman, Sean McWeeney, Joe Rush, and supervisors Ronald Reese and Anthony Amoroso, to discuss the Halloran/Wheeler murder. Jamar was involved because two FBI informants were being investigated on charges that they had been complicit in the murder. This perceived "bungling" was later mentioned in a civil suit alleging mass mismanagement of the Informant system. Waco Jamar served as the siege commander during Waco, aided by agents Bob Ricks, ...
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Covert Listening Device
A covert listening device, more commonly known as a bug or a wire, is usually a combination of a miniature radio transmitter with a microphone. The use of bugs, called bugging, or wiretapping is a common technique in surveillance, espionage and police investigations. Self-contained electronic covert listening devices came into common use with Intelligence agency, intelligence agencies in the 1950s, when technology allowed for a suitable transmitter to be built into a relatively small package. By 1956, the US Central Intelligence Agency was designing and building "Surveillance Transmitters" that employed transistors, which greatly reduced the size and power consumption. With no moving parts and greater power efficiency, these Solid-state electronics, solid-state devices could be operated by small batteries, which revolutionized the process of covert listening. A bug does not have to be a device specifically designed for the purpose of eavesdropping. For instance, with the right ...
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United States Department Of Justice
The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a United States federal executive departments, federal executive department of the U.S. government that oversees the domestic enforcement of Law of the United States, federal laws and the administration of justice. It is equivalent to the Ministry of justice, justice or interior ministries of other countries. The department is headed by the U.S. attorney general, who reports directly to the president of the United States and is a member of the president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet. Pam Bondi has served as U.S. attorney general since February 4, 2025. The Justice Department contains most of the United States' Federal law enforcement in the United States, federal law enforcement agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Federal Bureau of Prisons. Th ...
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CS Gas
The compound 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile (also called ''o''-chlorobenzylidene malononitrile; chemical formula: C10H5ClN2), a cyanocarbon, is the defining component of the lachrymatory agent commonly referred to as CS gas, a tear gas which is used as a riot control agent, and is banned for use in warfare due to the 1925 Geneva Protocol. Exposure causes a burning sensation and tearing of the eyes to the extent that the subject cannot keep their eyes open, and a burning irritation of the mucous membranes of the nose, mouth and throat, resulting in profuse coughing, nasal mucus discharge, disorientation, and difficulty breathing, partially incapacitating the subject. CS gas is an aerosol of a volatile solvent (a substance that dissolves other active substances and that easily evaporates) and 2-chlorobenzalmalononitrile, which is a solid compound at room temperature. CS gas is generally accepted as being non-lethal. History CS gas was first synthesized by two Americans, B ...
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Arrest Warrant
An arrest warrant is a warrant issued by a judge or magistrate on behalf of the state which authorizes the arrest and detention of an individual or the search and seizure of an individual's property. Canada Arrest warrants are issued by a judge or justice of the peace under the Criminal Code. Once the warrant has been issued, section 29 of the code requires that the arresting officer must give notice to the accused of the existence of the warrant, the reason for it, and produce it if requested, if it is feasible to do so. Czech Republic Czech courts may issue an arrest warrant when it is not possible to summon or bring in for questioning a charged person and at the same time there is a reason for detention (i.e. concern that the charged person would either flee, interfere with the proceedings or continue criminal activity, see Remand in the Czech Republic). The arrest warrant includes: * identification of the charged person * brief description of the act for which the p ...
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Search Warrant
A search warrant is a court order that a magistrate or judge issues to authorize Police, law enforcement officers to conduct a Search and seizure, search of a person, location, or vehicle for evidence of a crime and to Confiscation, confiscate any evidence they find. In most countries, a search warrant cannot be issued in aid of civil process. Jurisdictions that respect the rule of law and a right to privacy constrain police powers, and typically require search warrant (law), warrants or an equivalent procedure for searches police conducted in the course of a criminal investigation. The laws usually make an exception for hot pursuit: a police officer following a criminal who has fled the scene of a crime has the right to enter a property where the criminal has sought shelter. The necessity for a search warrant and its abilities vary from country to country. In certain authoritarian nations, police officers may be allowed to search individuals and property without having to obtain ...
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Waco, Texas
Waco ( ) is a city in and the county seat of McLennan County, Texas, United States. It is situated along the Brazos River and Interstate 35, I-35, halfway between Dallas and Austin, Texas, Austin. The city had a U.S. census estimated 2024 population of 146,608, making it the List of cities in Texas by population, 24th-most populous city in the state.Annual Estimates of the Resident Population for Incorporated Places of 50,000 or More, Ranked by July 1, 2022, Population: April 1, 2020, to July 1, 2023 (SUB-IP-EST2023-ANNRNK) Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division Release Date: May 2024 The Waco metropolitan area, Waco metropolitan statistical area consists of McLennan, Falls and Bosque counties, which had a 2020 population of 295,782. Bosque County was added to the Waco MSA in 2023. The 2024 U.S. census population estimate for the Waco metropolitan area was 307,123 residents. History 1824–1865 Indigenous peoples occupied areas along the river for thousands of years. ...
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Cult
Cults are social groups which have unusual, and often extreme, religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and rituals. Extreme devotion to a particular person, object, or goal is another characteristic often ascribed to cults. The term has different, and sometimes divergent or pejorative, definitions both in popular culture and academia and has been an ongoing source of contention among scholars across several fields of study. Beginning in the 1930s, new religious movements became an object of sociological study within the context of the study of religious behavior. Since the 1940s, the Christian countercult movement has opposed some sects and new religious movements, labeling them cults because of their unorthodox beliefs. Since the 1970s, the secular anti-cult movement has opposed certain groups, which they call cults, accusing them of practicing brainwashing. Groups labelled cults are found around the world and range in size from small localized groups to some in ...
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Wayne Martin (Branch Davidian)
Douglas Wayne Martin (June 30, 1950 – April 19, 1993) was an American Branch Davidian and attorney who left the Seventh-day Adventist Church. He worked as an attorney in multiple fields, including contract, child custody, and real estate law, and provided the proceeds to the Branch Davidians. He was nominally married to Sheila Judith Martin, another Branch Davidian, but she was "carnally" married to David Koresh, the Branch Davidian leader. Wayne and Sheila had seven children, four of whom died in the 1993 fire: Wayne Joseph, 20; Anita, 18; Sheila Renee, 15; and Lisa Martin, 13. Sheila Martin, who left Mount Carmel Center on March 21 in the middle of the siege, eventually won custody over the three surviving children: James, Daniel, and Kimberly Martin. Wayne Martin was present at Mount Carmel Center when the February 28, 1993, raid occurred. He was the first person in the compound to call 9-1-1 to local authorities and asked to call off the raid for risk of harming women and ch ...
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Steve Schneider (Branch Davidian)
Steven Emil Schneider (October 16, 1949 – April 19, 1993) was an American Branch Davidian commonly called a "lieutenant" to David Koresh, the leader of the new religious movement.Darlene McCormick"The price of loyalty: Schneider's body found near Howell's,"''Waco Tribune-Herald'', May 12, 1993. He was formally married to Judy Schneider, but in the community Koresh impregnated Judy and she bore a child with him. Steve Schneider was raised in a Seventh-day Adventist household in Wisconsin. James D. Tabor and Eugene V. Gallagher, ''Why Waco?: Cults and the Battle for Religious Freedom in America'' ( Berkeley, Los Angeles, and London: University of California Press, 1995), 27. Schneider studied at Newbold College in the United Kingdom, and eventually worked to receive a Ph.D. in comparative religion at the University of Hawaiʻi. In approximately 1986, Schneider encountered Marc Breault, an indigenous Hawaiian Branch Davidian, and converted to Branch Davidianism. Schneider was s ...
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David Koresh
David Koresh (; born Vernon Wayne Howell; August 17, 1959 – April 19, 1993) was an American cult leader. who played a central role in the Waco siege of 1993. As the head of the Branch Davidians, a religious sect, Koresh claimed to be its final prophet. His apocalyptic Biblical teachings, including interpretations of the Book of Revelation and the Seven Seals, attracted various followers. Coming from a dysfunctional background, Koresh was a member and later a leader of the Branch Davidians, a movement originally led by Benjamin Roden, based at the Mount Carmel Center outside Waco, Texas. There, Koresh competed for dominance with another leader, Benjamin Roden's son George, until Koresh and his followers took over Mount Carmel in 1987. In the early 1990s, he became subject to allegations about polygamy and child sexual abuse by former Branch Davidian associates. Further allegations related to the Branch Davidians' stockpiling of weapons led the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacc ...
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