Both sides claim victory in wake of field test

HOUSTON (AP) -- Lawyers for the government and the Branch Davidians both claimed vindication Monday, a day after a simulation<br>designed to answer the question of whether federal agents fired on the Waco

Monday, March 20th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

HOUSTON (AP) -- Lawyers for the government and the Branch Davidians both claimed vindication Monday, a day after a simulation
designed to answer the question of whether federal agents fired on the Waco cult's burning compound in 1993.

The chief lawyer for the Davidians suing the
government said the demonstration Sunday at a Texas military base proved what his side
has alleged all along: that federal operatives fired on the remote side of the Davidians' retreat, Mount Carmel, as it burned.

The government said the tests proved the exact opposite.

Davidian leader David Koresh and some 80 followers died during the fire that occurred several hours into an FBI tear-gas operation. The government contends their deaths, whether from fire or gunshot wounds, came by their own hand. The plaintiffs argue
government gunfire cut off the cult members' only avenue of escape as the inferno raged.

Michael Caddell, the chief lawyer for the Davidians, said at a Houston news conference that the test "clearly demonstrates that there was government gunfire on the back of Mount Carmel on April 19, 1993."

But U.S. Attorney Mike Bradford said the test results bolster the government's longstanding insistence that no shots were fired that day.

"We hope that this will put to rest the notion that the FBI was shooting that day," Bradford said.

The test at Fort Hood -- complete with aircraft equipped with infrared cameras, soldiers firing weapons and rumbling tanks -- was
ordered by the federal judge presiding over the Davidians' wrongful-death lawsuit. The case is scheduled for trial in mid-May.

During the 1993 siege, an FBI infrared camera picked up rapid-fire bursts of light. The plaintiffs contend the bursts are muzzle flashes; the government contends they were sunlight glinting off water puddles or debris.

During Sunday's exercise, soldiers fired a variety of weapons while infrared cameras recorded the scene.

Infrared experts from both sides will compare the footage with the 1993 tape. Separately, a British company that oversaw the test as a neutral expert will present its findings to U.S. District Judge Walter Smith within 30 days.

The judge has sealed the test tape from public view, ruling that it is evidence.