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Waco, Oklahoma City mark anniversary of tragedies
April 19, 1998
A look back: 
Waco compound burns, 1993
1.3MB / 31 sec. / 160x120
Oklahoma City federal building destroyed in blast, 1995
1MB / 49 sec. / 160x120
Web posted at: 11:19 a.m. EDT (1519 GMT)(CNN) -- Two towns with an odd connection will pause Sunday to reflect on two tragedies that culminated in a wake-up call to domestic terrorism: the Oklahoma City bombing and the standoff that ended in fire at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas.
Federal prosecutors say the motive for the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, stemmed from what happened in Waco two years earlier.
Hundreds of people were expected to attend a memorial service at the bombing site on Sunday morning, where the names of the 168 people killed would be read aloud. The ground on which the gutted building once sat is now covered by grass and surrounded by a fence decked in memorabilia.
In Texas, surviving members of the religious sect known as the Branch Davidians plan to hold a memorial service at the Mount Carmel site of their former compound. Sunday will also mark the opening of a museum at the site that followers hope will tell their side of the tragedy.
The standoff in Waco began in late February 1993 with a shoot-out between federal agents and Davidian members.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms had come to the compound to arrest Davidian leader David Koresh on weapons charges.
Koresh and 75 followers, including 21 children, perished in a fire 51 days later.
Surviving Davidians and others blamed the government for not handling the siege properly.
"It didn't need to happen the way it did," Clive Doyle, a surviving Branch Davidian leader told CNN recently. "They could have handled it so much more peacefully."
Hundreds gathered Sunday in remembrance of those killed in the 1995 Oklahoma City blast Federal prosecutors would later claim the Waco siege so angered Gulf War veteran Timothy McVeigh that he masterminded and carried out the bombing in Oklahoma City.
The bombing -- exactly two years after the Waco fire -- was designed and timed for maximum loss of life.
The 4,800-pound truck bomb blew shortly after 9 a.m., gutting a building packed with employees, children, and city residents who came to conduct business at the various agencies in the building.
In 1997, a federal jury convicted McVeigh and sentenced him to death. His U.S. Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was recently convicted as a co-conspirator, and could get life in prison when he is sentenced later this year.
Both McVeigh and Nichols still face state murder charges in Oklahoma.
Correspondent Charles Zewe, The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
Specials:
Related stories:
- Documents tie Nichols to Oklahoma bomb plot - January 18, 1998
- FBI agent says Nichols' suspected McVeigh in bombing - November 20, 1997
- Agent describes Waco video found in Nichols' home - November 17, 1997
- The McVeigh Trial: The jury speaks: Guilty - June 17, 1997
- Defense: Waco fueled McVeigh's anti-government passion - June 11, 1997
- McVeigh defense focuses on Waco rage - June 10, 1997
- 168 seconds of silence mark Oklahoma City bombing - April 19, 1997
- McVeigh letter bitterly blames FBI for Waco deaths - April 8, 1997
- Republicans charge Reno with negligence in Waco siege - July 12, 1996
- Ceremony held on 3rd anniversary of Waco disaster - April 19, 1996
- U.S. News Year in Review - Waco Hearings
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