WACO, Texas (AP) -- Many of the federal agents involved in the botched raid on the Branch Davidians compound have gathered in Waco to remember the four agents killed 20 years ago.
The U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives held a private ceremony Thursday to honor agents Conway LeBleu, Todd McKeehan, Robert John Williams and Steven Willis. They died in the Feb. 28, 1993, gun battle that erupted when agents raided the compound of the religious group suspected of stockpiling weapons. Six members of the group also died.
ATF spokeswoman Franceska Perot said ATF acting director B. Todd Jones spoke at the ceremony. Relatives of Willis and Williams attended as well.
The firefight began a 51-day standoff that ended in the deaths of about 80 more sect members, including two-dozen children.
