. >> waco, texas, is a quiet, moderaten city surrounded by sprawling cattle ranches located halfway between dallas and austin, it's an unlikely place for a modern day armageddon. zoon we have a fire at the compound in carmel. the entire compound is going up right now. >> it was an epic debacle in united states law enforcement history. a deadly shootout followed by a 51-day siege that ended with more than 70 people dead in a raging inferno. all caught on live television with the whole world watching. two questions rise from the ashes of this american tragedy. who shot first and who started the fire? >> it began innocently enough. in 1935 a small religious group moved to waco. an off-chute of the seven day adventist church, they eventually called themselves the branch davidians. >> pretty stable leadership for a lot of years, and they were known in town as a swit somewhat bizarre but benign religious group that pretty much kept to themselves. >> the davidians bought property about ten miles east of town, built a compound, and named their sanctuary mount carmel after the sacred biblical site i