Number 1: An example of the flashes of light as they appear on an FBI videotape; Number 2: These are the lights of an FBI armored vehicle approaching the Davidian compound

October 21, 1999
Web posted at: 8:53 p.m. EDT (0053 GMT)

From Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Lawyers for survivors of the 1993 assault on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, are alleging that flashes of light seen on an FBI videotape prove that agents fired weapons into the compound on the day it was destroyed by fire.

However, a researcher who performed an independent analysis of the tapes disputes that conclusion, and FBI sources continue to maintain that they did not fire a single shot into the compound before the fire, in which more than 80 members of the religious sect perished.

The tape in question was taken from an FBI surveillance aircraft, using an infra-red camera, on April 19, 1993, the day of the fire. The camera shows an FBI armored vehicle crashing into the compound's gymnasium, and it records quick flashes of light emanating from the rear of the FBI vehicle.

ALSO The FBI's Waco surveillance tapes

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VIDEO Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas reports on allegations by surviving Branch Davidians that the FBI fired into their compound on April 19, 1993 Windows Media 28K 80K

VIDEO National Correspondent Tony Clark talks to jailed members of the Branch Davidians about their hopes to eventually be vindicated Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K

Moments later, flashes can be seen coming from the compound.

Michael Caddell, an attorney for surviving Branch Davidians and family members of victims of the fire who are suing the government, says experts who viewed the footage concluded that the tape "clearly shows the imagery of weapons fire from government positions on April 19 directed into (the compound.)"

However, Norris Krone Jr. of the Maryland Advanced Development Laboratory, who performed an independent analysis on a number of infra-red tapes from Waco in 1997, concluded that the "signature" of the flashes was not consistent with sniper fire.

Krone has subsequently been retained by the FBI to conduct additional tests. He told CNN that his fundamental findings remains the same, though he declined to offer specifics.

The infra-red tapes are the subject of an intensive review by both the House Government Reform Committee and former Sen. John Danforth, who has been appointed as a special prosecutor to investigate the government's actions at Waco.

With a dispute among experts who have viewed the tapes, Danforth may have to find his own scientists to do an independent analysis.

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