In a spectacular six-month period, Americans were treated to not one but two standoff dramas between federal agents and fanatical groups in barricaded inside their house in the remote wilderness. The better-known one was against David Koresh and his Branch Davidians, but before him, a former army Green Beret, Randy Weaver was confronted, along with his wife and sons, by U.S. marshals near his home in upper Idaho.

On this day, August 21, in 1992, a firefight took place between the U.S. marshals’ elite Special Operations Group and Weaver and his sons. The sequence and details of the events are in dispute, but left one federal agent and Randy’s son Samuel shot.

A twelve day standoff occurred, with elements from the FBI, ATF and numerous other law enforcement organizations laying siege to the house. Before there was any call for the Weavers to surrender, a sniper shot Randy in the back as he was closing up the latch to the shed where he placed his son’s body, and a second shot killed Vicki Weaver, Randy’s wife, through the door of their house. Ultimately, both Weaver and his friend Harris, who was involved in the shootings, surrendered, and their subsequent trial captivated the nation.