Motorcycle Crew War in Waco

Over 170 people, all motorcycle club members, were charged Monday after engaging in a shootout at a Texas restaurant. 9 were killed and 18 were injured. A Waco judge set bond at $1 million for the suspects. McLennan County Justice, W.H. Peterson, says the amount is appropriate, as the violence began in a busy area with a lunchtime crowd. “We have 9 people dead, because these people wanted to come down and what? Drink? Party?” Peterson added, “I thought $1 million was appropriate.”

The crowd of suspects was so large that authorities opened a convention center to hold them all before they were arrested. Authorities added that it was too early to determine if any of the bikers would face murder charges. The shooting happened Sunday at the Twin Peaks restaurant in Waco, drawing a police response that placed officers on top of buildings and highway overpasses to watch for other bikers coming to the scene to retaliate.

The charges were filed on the same day local law enforcement agencies were warned of increasing violence between two of the main motorcycle friendship groups involved in the shootout, the Cossacks and the Banditos. In a 2014 club-threat assessment, the Texas Department of Public Safety named the Bandidos as a Tier 2 threat, the second highest. Other groups in that tier are the Bloods, Crips and Aryan Brotherhood of Texas.

McLennan County Sheriff, Parnell McNamara, said the nine dead were members of both the Bandidos and Cossacks. However, Waco Police Sergeant W. Patrick Swanton has repeatedly declined to identify which societies were involved in the fight. He stated that the fight began with punches, but then chains, knives and guns became involved.

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