[WayneS]

"It was a mess, and we played right into it -- into a prophetic, apocalyptic ministry that David Koresh had been preaching for 7 ½ years," said retired FBI agent and negotiator Byron Sage. "There were no good options.

There was most definitely a good option. The man was a creature of habit. He had patterns he followed in his day to day activities. So, prior to initiating the "stand-off", instead of trying to take Koresh out of what amounted to his fortress, they could have waited until he drove [alone] in to town to buy his morning paper and coffee and had a couple or three agents arrest him - most likely without incident.

[Magnum44]

they could have waited until he drove [alone] in to town

Kind of like how they handled Levoy Finnicum

[BBell]

The ATF wanted a real life dog and pony show and they got one.

[caww]

David Koresh was also a nutcase! I’ll never understand fully why people follow these nuts. It never ends well.