The Unsorted BBS Collection/thegreatunsorted.tar/thegreatunsorted/texts/txtfiles_misc/news117

Text File | 1993-03-07 | 5KB | 87 lines

03/06/1993
   WACO, Texas (UPI) -- The leader of a religious cult who has
refused for six days to leave a fortified compound with his
followers takes offense at being compared to Jesus and says he is
not considering suicide, the FBI said.
   Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and his more than 100
followers have refused to leave the heavily armed compound since
four federal agents were killed and an unknown number of cult
members were killed or wounded in shootouts Sunday.
   FBI Special Agent Bob Ricks told a Friday news briefing that
Koresh has "taken offense" at reports he compares himself to Jesus
and that he "describes himself more as a prophet than as Jesus."
   Ricks was asked if, during frequent negotiations, Koresh has been
asked if he is considering suicide himself or ordering the suicide
of his followers.
   "He has been specifically asked if there is an intent on his part
to commit suicide. He has denied that," he said. "He indicates there
is no intent to order a suicide nor does he contemplate suicide."
   The question of suicide arose because of a Nov. 18, 1978, impasse
with a religious cult in Jonestown, Guyana, in which more than 900
residents of the People's Temple colony and their leader, the Rev.
Jim Jones, died in a mass suicide and murder pact.
   Ricks and Dan Conroy, a spokesman for the Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco and Firearms, said another child, a 9-year-old girl, left
the compound early Friday. A total of 21 children and two women have
left the compound.
   Ricks said there are 17 children, 47 women and 43 men still
inside the compound, according to Koresh's figures. He said Koresh
said all adults are "free to leave." Koresh personally directs
release of children.
   Ricks said the children who have left the compound are being well
cared for and a videotape of the them has been recorded and turned
over to the compound to demonstrate that. He said they are being
kept in a  "family setting."
   Ricks said the children continue to express a "strong desire to
be reunited with their families."
   Koresh on Friday afternoon requested medical supplies (sutures)
to repair a wound on his wrist, and the FBI agent said authorities
complied "to demonstrate our humanitarian concern."
   Ricks also made clear they are negotiating not only for the
release of the children but the adults as well, and that they have
insisted at times that adults come out as a "demonstration of good
will" by the cult leader.
   "We believe that he does have power over the adults in that
facility, and the fact that only two adults have been released so
far raises our suspicion to a degree," he said.
   Four ATF agents were killed and 15 wounded in the bloody assault
on the complex, and Conroy said Friday the agents seen on widely
distributed KWTX-TV videotape as they climbed on the roof and into a
window "sustained some very heavy casualties."
   Ricks said no utilities to the compound have been cut off and
negotiations are continuing to bring the siege to a peaceful
conclusion without further bloodshed on either side.
   Hundreds of law officers, supported by armored Bradley fighting
vehicles and armored personnel carriers, surround the 77-acre
compound ruled by Koresh, a former Seventh-day Adventist who had led
the sect since the mid 1980s.
   Agents Thursday recovered a body found lying outside the compound
since Sunday's gun battles. The man has not been identified, but he
had a semi-automatic pistol in his hand and was from the compound,
the ATF said.
   Deputy ATF Director Dan Hartnett said an "independent
investigation" is under way by the Texas Rangers and ATF to
determine who tipped off Koresh that Sunday's raid was imminent,
eliminating the agents' critical "element of surprise."
   Hartnett said the 107 people Koresh claims are still inside the
compound are apparently carrying on a "normal routine." He said the
women generally work in the kitchen and care for children and the
men work on construction. He said they are self-sufficient with
their own water and food supplies.
   Jamar said telephone negotiations are under way "three-fourths"
of the time with Koresh or others in the compound. He said the
conversations are sometimes about religion and the scriptures but
surrender is a constant theme.
   "His stance is still that he's been told (by God) to wait and
when he gets the message to stop waiting then proceed from there.
He's still saying that he's going to come out," he said.
   Hartnett disclosed a man was arrested Sunday near the compound on
a firearms charge. He said two men have now been charged in
connection with the siege. He said charges were dropped against two
elderly women who had been charged earlier with conspiracy in the
agents' murder.
   Koresh claims a 2-year-old child died in Sunday's gunbattle, but
ATF has been unable to confirm it. The FBI said people who have left
the compound said there were bodies inside but specific numbers were
nt precise.