Friday, Jul 4, 2008
Testimony in the civil case focuses on an alleged helicopter attack on the Branch Davidian compound.
Jun 28, 2000 | When the federal government planned its assault on the Branch Davidian compound here, agents counted on using three National Guard helicopters as a diversion. But according to testimony in a $675 million civil suit against the federal government, federal police may have used the government aircraft to fire on civilians.
And the image of government helicopters firing on her and other Branch Davidians during the initial assault on the sect's home near Waco in 1993 is one Marjorie Thomas can't shake.
Thomas, one of only nine people who escaped from the burning ruins of Mount Carmel during the final hours of the 51-day siege, testified in court Monday that Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agents fired at her as she looked through the window of her third-floor room on the building's north side during the agency's raid against the Davidians on Feb. 28, 1993.
"I could see the gun from the helicopter, and then he fired," she said. "The bullet came through one of the other windows in the room. We all got down on the floor. By this time, some more of the bullets were coming through the sheetrock and coming across the room."
Despite her claims, Thomas' memory proved less reliable under cross examination. Nevertheless, she is one of several Davidians who allege that the ATF fired on them from the choppers. And the mere allegation renews the debate over exactly what happened when the ATF tried to serve a search warrant on David Koresh and other Branch Davidians.
The allegations about the helicopters also raise important questions about the nature of the ATF raid on the Branch Davidians. Was it a police action or a military action? The government has repeatedly denied the charge that the helicopters fired on the Davidians. Shortly after Thomas' testimony, U.S. Attorney Michael Bradford said, "There was not any gunfire from the helicopters."
But ballistics tests were never performed on the weapons carried by the ATF agents who rode in the helicopters; and all the physical evidence, including bullet holes allegedly made by the airborne agents, was destroyed by the fire that consumed the complex.
Get Salon in your mailbox!