-Feb. 28: About 100 agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms raid the compound near Waco, Texas. Four agents and an unknown number of cult members are killed in a gun battle. Cult leader David Koresh is among those wounded. Four children are released.
-March 1: Ten children released. Koresh speaks on radio.
-March 2: Two women and six children released. Koresh promises to surrender if a lengthy taped statement is broadcast; sermon is broadcast on radio and TV but Koresh does not give up.
-March 3: Federal agents say that Koresh says he will surrender when he receives ″further instruction from God.″
-March 4, 5: Two more children leave compound.
-March 12: Two adults leave compound.
-March 18: FBI begins using loudspeakers to blare tapes of negotiations to cultists.
-March 19: Two cultists leave the compound.
-March 21: Seven cultists leave.
-March 22: Authorities blast compound with chants of Tibetan monks.
-March 23: One cult member leaves compound.
-March 24: Koresh breaks off negotiations.
-April 14: Koresh sends out word he will surrender after writing a manuscript in which he reveals the contents of the Seven Seals referred to in the Book of Revelations in the Bible.
-April 16: FBI agent says agency has its own time schedule and won’t wait forever for Koresh to give up.
-April 19: The compound burns to the ground after FBI agents in an armored vehicle smash the buildings and pump in tear gas.
-April 23: President Clinton defends government handling of Branch Davidian case but promises a full investigation.
-April 25: First body in the rubble identified as Koresh’s brother-in-law, David Michael Jones.
-April 29: Texas Department of Public Safety says the hunt for bodies has ended with 72 recovered.
-May 2: Justice of the Peace David Pareya announces that dental records and X-rays confirm that Koresh’s body was found, with a gunshot wound to the forehead.
