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Cultist is said to have no suicide plans
WACO, Texas — The leader of a militant religious cult locked in an armed standoff with hundreds of law enforcement officers told US negotiators yesterday that he has no plan to lead over 100 followers with him in a mass suicide.
“There is no intent on his part to order a suicide, nor does he intend to commit suicide,” said Bob Ricks, the FBI special agent-in-charge.
Ricks said that David Koresh, the leader of the cult, made his statement in response to speculation that he would end the standoff by orchestrating a mass suicide similar to the one led by evangelist Jim Jones in 1978, when he and 900 followers took their lives.
The standoff began last Sunday after about 100 agents from the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms stormed the 77-acre farm where Koresh and the Branch Davidians live. The attempted raid led to a 45-minute firefight in which four agents and at least two cult members were killed.
Yesterday, the Associated Press reported that an ATF official, speaking on the condition he not be named, said the ATF raided the compound because it had received information Koresh and his followers were thinking of taking their lives.
“We did not believe we could besiege these people without the very real possibility of a mass suicide,” the ATF official was quoted as saying.
The ATF has faced sharp criticism for staging the raid. Officials and area residents have questioned the decision to assault the compound knowing its residents were heavily armed. Critics also have suggested that authorities should have attempted to apprehend Koresh, who was sought on illegal weapons charges, at a different location earlier.
The ATF official quoted by the Associated Press said the bureau had learned of a possible mass suicide through “anecdotal information” from an Australian source.
Local officials here say that Australian private investigator Geoffrey Hossack, who was hired by former cult members, had tried in vain to persuade local authorities to launch an investigation into a wide array of allegations against Koresh.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, federal officials negotiating said that it now seems that Koresh is suffering from a wrist wound received in Sunday’s battle.
Officials said that at Koresh’s request they delivered medical equipment to the compound for him. They also said at least one cult member may be a trained nurse.
In addition, federal authorities said that Koresh yesterday released another child, lowering to 117 the number of people believed to be inside the compound.
The release came as federal negotiators agreed to deliver a videotape of children released thus far, to assure cult members that the children have not been separated and delivered to foster homes.
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