The CBS series "FBI True" will take another look at the 1993 raid on a Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in which Lake Charles Special Agent Conway LeBleu and three other special agents were killed.
Baton Rouge's Keith Constantino, a Catholic High graduate, was also an ATF agent injured in the Branch Davidian standoff. In 1994, Constantino spoke to students at Catholic High School as part of the school's annual Career Expo. He broke his hip and injured his knee when he jumped from a window of a building in the compound after an uneven gunbattle inside.
The episode, “Waco: The Deadliest Siege” airs at 9 p.m. Wednesday, and will also stream on Paramount+ (live and on-demand for Paramount+ with Showtime subscribers, or on demand for Paramount+ Essential subscribers the day after the episode airs).
The 51-day standoff, known as the longest siege in U.S. history, also claimed the lives of agents Todd McKeehan and Robert Williams, both assigned to the New Orleans Field Division, and Steven Willis, of the Houston Field Division. In addition, 76 Branch Davidians, among them 25 children, two pregnant women and Koresh, also died in the shootout and subsequent blaze destroying the compound.
"An ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives) raid on the compound of an armed self-proclaimed religious group in Waco, Texas, turns deadly after a terrifying shootout leaves four federal agents dead and more than a dozen wounded," a CBS news release describes the event.
Recounting their stories of the siege during the episode's hour will be:
- Rick Shirley, a veteran of the Austin police department, where he served as a crisis negotiator for 28 years
- Charlie Rasner, a retired FBI Special Agent who worked domestic terrorism and civil rights cases before joining the FBI’s hostage rescue team where he was awarded the FBI’s Shield of Bravery
- Jim McGee, who began his career as a firefighter for the National Forest Service and received the Medal of Valor for Exceptional Heroism as a member of the FBI’s hostage rescue team
The three men will be speaking to FBI veteran Special Agent Kristy Kottis about what happened during the historic siege and the deadly blaze that ensued, the news release also says.
Each episode of "FBI True" covers a single case or two cases "where agents had to make hair-trigger decisions where lives hung in the balance."
David Koresh taken at the Mount Carmel compound of the Branch Davidians cult near Waco, Texas. Koresh, leader of the cult, and many of his followers died April 19, 1993, when the compound burned to the ground at the end of a 51-day standoff with federal agents.
From an Advocate story written by Fred Kalmbach in 1994 when Constantino spoke to students at his alma mater, Catholic High: Constantino said he and two other agents entered a window and immediately came under "terrible gunfire," even though the room was empty.
"They were shooting through the walls and doors at us," Constantino said. Constantino said he and his companions were using handguns because they knew there were children in the building. The agents didn't want to use firearms that would easily penetrate walls, he said. The two agents with him were wounded, but managed to get out, he said.
Constantino said that as he provided cover for them, a gunman inside opened fire on him but missed. Constantino said he shot the man and, after the gunman fell, ran and jumped through a window to escape. Dressed in heavy body armor, he fell 20 to 25 feet and landed on concrete. Constantino said a fellow agent outside then dragged him up under the building, where he stayed at least an hour before a cease-fire was negotiated.