WACO, Texas — Texas recently passed the 30-year mark of the Waco Siege, which is referred to by some as the Waco Massacre.
On February 28, 1993, an exchange of gunfire from ATF agents and members of a religious group known as the Branch Davidians resulted in a standoff. The religious group was living on a compound.
"The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms laid siege to this small community nobody had ever heard of unless you were living in Waco," Dr. Stuart Wright, chair of sociology at Lamar University, said. "It didn't go well. It was a shoot-out. Six Branch Davidians and four ATF officers were killed."
The standoff between the FBI, ATF, and Branch Davidians lasted 51 days and ended in a fiery blaze that took the lives of 76 people.
"They collapsed the building, and I listened to some of the accounts by some of the women who tried to get out once the fire broke out," Dr. Wright said. "The two women that survived and testified in the civil trial, I mean, one woman had all her fingers burned off."
Men, women and children lost their lives. The FBI and ATF were criticized for what some called excessive actions.
“It's unforgivable," Dr. Wright said.
Dr. Wright studies religious groups and cults. He was there in 1983, interviewing those involved in the standoff and later provided expertise to the criminal and civil trials.
The professor has interviewed many of the survivors in the years following the siege and is still active in communicating with them. Three decades after the deadly event, he said it is still heart-wrenching to revisit some of the details that took place over those 51 days in Waco
"Interviewing the survivors and their family members is heart-wrenching," Dr. Wright said. "It'll tear your insides out, you know, people died in a raging fire. The coroner said the temperature inside Mount Carmel when the fire was raging probably hit 800 degrees, so they were just incinerated."
Dr. Wright feels the deadly moment in Texas history remains an important one.
"It was one of the most tragic federal law enforcement incidents that have taken place here in the U.S. for a while and serves as a life lesson," Dr. Wright said.
On April 19, 2023, Dr. Wright along with others will hold a press conference to honor the 76 people who died in that tragic fire.
GET NEWS & WEATHER ALERTS | Download the 12News App to your mobile device
This is a developing story. We will update with more if and when we receive more confirmed information.