-Caveat Lector- >From The Star Telegram, http://www.star-telegram.com/news/doc/1047/1:METRO12/1:METRO12091399.html - Updated: Monday, Sep. 13, 1999 at 00:44 CDT Agent told of hearing FBI shots By Gabrielle Crist Star-Telegram Staff Writer Among the evidence that may get a second look amid the latest uproar over the FBI's conduct at Mount Carmel is a two-page document detailing an FBI sniper's suggestion that an agent fired at Branch Davidians. Government officials deny that agents fired shots on April 19, 1993, the final day of the 51-day standoff, which ended when the Davidians' compound burst into flames. Leader David Koresh and about 80 of his followers were later found dead inside, some with burns and others with gunshot wounds. But FBI agent Charles Riley said in June 1993 that he heard shots fired from a sniper post occupied by agent Lon Horiuchi, according to court documents filed in Waco as part of a wrongful death suit scheduled to go to trial next month. The suit was filed by Branch Davidians and their relatives. Riley's statement is among 25 volumes of motions, rulings and exhibit lists filed in the multimillion-dollar lawsuit. An attorney for the 100 or so plaintiffs said he is convinced that gunfire was exchanged on the final day. James B. Francis, commissioner of the Texas Department of Public Safety, said there is some indication that "gunfire took place there by government police officers." Francis would not say when he believes those shots were fired and declined to elaborate. "It is a subject matter that needs to be investigated," he said. Horiuchi could not be reached to comment for this report. He told investigators in April 1993 that "none of the snipers under his control at Sierra-1 (a sniper post) fired any rounds from their weapons." Government officials have said that Riley retracted his initial statement, according to Houston attorney Michael Caddell, who represents the Branch Davidians in the lawsuit. FBI officials in Washington declined to confirm that Riley issued a retraction and would not comment because of an independent investigation launched last week. Attorney General Janet Reno ordered the investigation after FBI officials acknowledged using as many as three pyrotechnic tear gas grenades on the last day of the standoff. The admission is an about-face from the adamant denials issued by the government for the past six years. Former GOP Sen. John Danforth, who is heading the investigation, said it will focus on whether there was a cover-up, how the fire started and whether government officials fired shots. Agents were authorized to use deadly force on April 19, according to a 1993 internal FBI document detailing an investigative interview with agent Richard Rogers, an FBI supervisor. Rogers told investigators that members of the Hostage Rescue Team were told to provide cover for the armored vehicles that were launching tear gas into the compound. As the vehicles punched holes in the walls, FBI officials announced over loudspeakers that they were delivering tear gas. They told the Branch Davidians not to shoot and warned that FBI agents would return fire. Although several FBI agents saw and heard Davidians firing at the vehicles and toward the sniper positions, agents did not fire "a single shot," Rogers said, because they "did not acquire clear and identifiable targets." But two experts in thermal imaging will contend at the trial that images on an infrared video show shots being fired toward the compound. Their opinions, coupled with Riley's initial statement, "provide at least some evidence" to support the plaintiffs' claims that Davidians were afraid they would be shot if they tried to escape from the burning compound, U.S. District Judge Walter Smith Jr. said in a July ruling. Because of that evidence, Smith said in his ruling, Horiuchi should be named as an individual defendant in the lawsuit. Smith dismissed all other individual defendants, including numerous officials of the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and the FBI. Horiuchi and the United States are the sole defendants. A jury will decide whether Horiuchi fired at Davidians without provocation. Smith will then decide the other issues in the case: whether the ATF used excessive force during an aborted Feb. 28, 1993, raid and whether the FBI started the fire and is negligent for not extinguishing it. Caddell said he is convinced that at least some of the FBI agents fired at the Branch Davidians, perhaps justifiably. Riley's "unpressured recollection is a lot more believable than any of the recanting" he did five years later, he said. A few of the Branch Davidians probably did shoot at FBI agents and FBI agents probably fired back, Caddell contends. Caddell said investigators failed to collect and test all the weapons used during the siege to determine whether FBI officials fired. "This whole thing has been an exercise in, `Don't ask, don't tell,' " he said. Gabrielle Crist, (817) 390-7662 -- Dan S DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER ========== CTRL is a discussion and informational exchange list. Proselyzting propagandic screeds are not allowed. Substance—not soapboxing! These are sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory', with its many half-truths, misdirections and outright frauds is used politically by different groups with major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought. That being said, CTRL gives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no credeence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply. 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