Two dozen friends and relatives gathered Friday in a chapel built on remnants of the burned Branch Davidian compound to remember the six sect members who died 10 years ago on the first day of a two-months siege.
The standoff ended when FBI-led military vehicles rammed and sprayed tear gas into the compound, which exploded in flames and burned to the ground. More than 70 people were killed in the fire, including nearly two dozen children.
Four federal agents also died the first day of the standoff, Feb. 28, 1993. The agents were raided the building to arrest sect leader David Koresh, suspected of stockpiling illegal weapons and explosives.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms held a private memorial service in Houston and placed wreaths on the agents' graves around the country.
The Davidians said agents ambushed them and that sect members fired in self-defense. Authorities say sect members fired first.
Koresh's mother, Bonnie Haldeman, attended the service in Waco.
``This was a harmless bunch of people,'' she said of Davidians. ``David didn't have a mean bone in his body. David did not believe in murder.''
Jane McKeehan's son, Todd, was among the agents who were killed that day.
``It doesn't get easier. You just learn to cope,'' she said. ``I baby-sit my grandchildren a lot, and I didn't want them to remember me being sad all the time. We try not to dwell on the past and what happened and how it happened.''