Waco, Texas • Twenty-five years ago, Oklahoman Bob Ricks was the FBI’s main spokesman during the 51-day standoff outside Waco between federal agents and an apocalyptic religious sect known as the Branch Davidians.
Ricks, 73, who earned his undergraduate and law degrees from Baylor University in Waco, has spent almost 50 years in law enforcement, first as an FBI special agent and later as the police chief in the Oklahoma City suburb of Edmond.
Before the deadly inferno that killed Branch Davidian leader David Koresh and 75 followers April 19, 1993, Ricks stepped to the microphone for nearly three dozen news conferences with the national media.