requested by koresh, but schneider abruptly cancels the second meeting. he indicated that david didn t think it was necessary, so i said, wait a minute, you don t want to come out or david doesn t want you to come out? he says, well, david doesn t think it s necessary. for agent sage, a heated phone conversation that follows provokes a crucial realization about koresh. at one point he is talking about my salvation and i said, david, i am absolutely confident in my salvation as a christian. and you, partner, are not in a position to judge me. now, that was a very calculated move because stop and think about it. if this individual was delusional and thought he was jesus christ, who is in more of a position to judge me as a christian than jesus christ? but in my mind it had resolved a very critical question, and that
dominates all others. who shot first? when we drove up, the davidians opened fire and i m sickened by any other assertion. but in a cnn phone interview after the shootout, david koresh says otherwise. they started firing at me, and so then what happened was that some of the young men started firing on them. they fired on us first. we didn t shoot first. we didn t. they shot first. if i thought that an atf agent would drive up in a front of a structure and shoot, i d throw my badge in the garbage. didn t happen. probably the only person who will ever know who shot first is the person who shot first. no one could know that the shootout was just a hint of what was coming. a tense 51-day standoff that would escalate into a conflagration of biblical
16 days into the standoff david koresh agrees to let two of his followers meet with government negotiators face to face. he had selected steve schneider, his number one lieutenant, and wayne martin, their harvard-educated attorney, to come out and talk to our representative. the tension was extremely high. you could quite literally feel the crosshairs on you from the branch davidian compound. as i m sure steve schneider and wayne martin could feel from our tactical teams that had everybody covered. the meeting is positive. the fbi negotiators arranged to meet again in two days and deliver written assurances requested by koresh. but schneider abruptly cancels the second meeting. he indicated that david didn t think it was necessary,
he said it was because of the standoff in waco. he had selected steve schneider, his number one lieutenant and wayne martin, their harvard-educated attorney to come out and talk to our representative. the tension was extremely high. you could quite literally feel the crosshairs on you from the branch davidian compound as i m sure steve schneider and wayne martin could feel from our tactical teams that had everybody covered. the meeting is positive. the fbi negotiators arranged to meet again in two days and deliver written assurances requested by koresh, but schneider abruptly cancels the second meeting. he indicated that david didn t think it was necessary,
from the start one question dominates all others. who shot first? when we drove up, the davidians opened fire and i m sickened by any other assertion. but in a cnn phone interview after the shootout, david koresh says otherwise. they started firing at me, and so then what happened was that some of the young men started firing on them. they fired on us first. we didn t shoot first. we didn t. they shot first. if i thought that an atf agent would drive up in a front of a structure and shoot, i d throw my badge in the garbage. didn t happen. probably the only person who will ever know who shot first is the person who shot first. no one could know that the shootout was just a hint of what was coming. a tense 51-day standoff that would escalate into a conflagration of biblical proportions.